Megaforce: Lives Behind The Masks
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Five teens are summoned to battle. Now, the Megaforce Rangers must learn to balance their Ranger duties with their school work and their personal lives.
1. School Dance

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Megaforce. This story is fan-made based on the Power Ranger Series._

_Author's Note: This is my official start to the Megaforce Series, but this is not where the series starts. If you want to read the series without getting lost, I suggest you read my stories in the order they appear:_

_**No To Date Nights**_

_**The Party Night**_

_**Project Partners**_

_To get an even better understanding (because they will crossover), read the __**Way of the Samurai Series**__, particularly __**"A New Life"**__, where Troy makes a brief appearance._

_Also, another note because there seemed to be some confusion from some people in my last series, this is going to be my adaptation of the Megaforce seasons. Therefore, I hold the right to change around some of the story ideas/plots/ and/or facts from the original. Some episode adaptations may hold strong similarities to the episodes themselves while others may differ slightly or considerably. The show itself is only a guide for my writing._

_However, it would be important to watch the show to follow along with some of the more minor plots. My series focuses on the Rangers' lives both on, but mostly off the battlefield and so plots centering around the villains will not be shown in great detail._

_That being said, I also don't take requests. I will not add any OCs that are not my own creation, nor will I write out a plot or story arc that isn't of my own making. However, I do listen to your comments when you leave reviews and take into account what you have to say about the way the story is progressing. Your comments and reviews can, and on many occasions do inspire me to write out certain ideas, focus on certain plots and aspects, and to develop an idea that I may have overlooked without your imput._

_Now, enough of my blabbering. __Onto the series! I hope you all enjoy._

* * *

The school dance was coming up. Every year, to celebrate the start of a new semester, a dance was organized and everyone was invited. Popularity, seniority, and connections didn't matter. It was a dance for all.

Most of the school attended. Some of the clubs would agree not to go and would spend the night together at someone's house. Some of the students weren't given permission from their parents to attend. Some decided they wouldn't be going.

Gia was one of them.

"Hey," Alex leaned up against the lockers and looked to Gia as she packed up her bag and was about to leave but he stopped her.

Naturally, Gia wanted nothing to do with him. She tried to push her way past, but he grabbed her arm.

"So, the dance is coming up and…"

"Why the hell would I want to go with you?" Gia growled and she tried to pull away. Alex wouldn't let go. Gia had learned he had no boundaries and was praying that Emma would come looking for her. They had no plans to meet up after school, but the pink Ranger always seemed to sense when she was needed and would turn up.

"Aren't we, you know, a thing?" Alex said. He spotted a group of kids walking by so he smirked and nodded to pretend he and Gia were hanging out casually. "I mean, we did…"

"Do you really think that means something?" Gia tried to pull away again. "You got me drunk or high or…"

"I never forced you to drink. Anyone could have put anything in your drink. It's _your fault_ you took your eyes off your cup. Anyways, we should do the right thing. We…"

"The right thing?" Gia dropped her bag and shoved Alex into the lockers. The noise drew the attention of the lingering students who all turned to see what was happening. Gia pinned Alex to the lockers and growled, "I hate myself because of you."

"Gia!" Jake raced over, touched her shoulder and got her to let go of Alex. He picked up her bag and pulled her away, "I'll walk you home."

Gia snatched her bag from Jake and walked with him. She tried to glance over her shoulder to glare angrily at Alex, but Jake gave her arm a gentle tug, turning her attention to him.

"He's not worth it."

They walked the rest of the way in silence until they were just a couple of houses away from where Gia lived. She stopped in her tracks, forcing Jake to come to a stop as well. She looked to him.

"Thanks."

"Alex has always been a bit of a dick," Jake shrugged his shoulders, "I wouldn't take anything he says or does personally."

"You probably stopped me getting suspended, though," Gia sighed. She walked to the curb and sat down. "When do you think they're going to get it? I'm not interested in them, and the more they try…"

"So, it's not that you're not interested in the dance, then. You just don't want to give anyone the wrong idea."

"No, I don't want to go to the dance," Gia shook her head. "That party, that Friday night, was the first time I did anything school related since starting high school and look what happened. I even had a date that night, and that still didn't stop anyone."

"Emma kind of abandoned you, though…"

"She didn't abandon me," Gia sighed. "I let her go. I had to. Guys never see her because she's always around me. I don't want her to miss out on anything because… because I'm a coward."

"You're hardly what I would call a coward," Jake sat down beside Gia. "You're a Power Ranger. And did you not see yourself in that last battle? I swear, Gosei gave us that card because of you. When Troy got tired, you took charge. You did exactly what needed to be done and I don't think you hesitated once."

"That's confidence," Gia rolled her eyes, "Not fearlessness."

"Isn't that like… the same?"

"Almost, I guess. But I'm not confident or fearless."

"That last guy, he really messed you up, huh?" Jake asked. "You know, the guy before Mick and Alex. I'm not trying to pry, I just… I don't like seeing you so upset."

Gia nodded her head, "Yeah, I guess he really messed me up. I don't date, I don't go to dances, I haven't joined any clubs… high school's not fun."

"We can make it fun," Jake suggested. "We can go to the dance."

"Jake, you agreed we were just friends."

"And we are," Jake stood up and offered his hand to help Gia up, "We'll go as a team. All of us. It'll be fun."

Gia hesitated. She wasn't sure what to say. Jake looked to her in her eyes with a warm but slightly goofy smile.

"Just don't drink the punch, and I promise you'll be fine."

"I'll talk to Emma," she finally agreed, "If she's coming, and if you can convince Troy and Noah to come too, then… then I'll go. But if I'm left by myself for even a second, I'm leaving the dance."

"You won't be alone," Jake promised her. "Do you need me to walk you the rest of the way?"

He pointed down the path that led to her house. Gia shook her head. She picked up her bag and started to walk by herself.

"I'll be fine. Go to soccer practice or… whatever."

Jake nodded his head and turned to go the other way. After a couple of steps he heard his name being called and looked over his shoulder. Gia had reached her door and smiled at him, "Thanks."

-Megaforce-

Emma was in the woods on her own. After their training lesson with the recycled cups and jugs, Troy had left them hanging in the middle of the forest. The training exercise had been great, but Emma couldn't, in good conscience, leave all that waste just sitting in the forest. They needed to be recycled properly.

As she untied the bottles from the ropes, she heard footsteps approaching the clearing. She looked up and from the bushes emerged Jordan.

She knew him from school, but more than that, she knew him because he had created his fifteen minutes of fame by lying and claiming he was the red Ranger. The lie itself wasn't anything Emma concerned herself with. It had hurt when she overheard Jordan telling his admirers that the red Ranger did most of the work while others were only just okay. She didn't have much practice in martial arts and admittedly most of her skill and knowledge did come from the suit, but she liked to think she did better than okay. She liked to think she pulled her weight.

Gia assured her she did more than that, but when Jordan said the rest of the team was only okay, and his admirers agreed without question it left her with a few doubts.

Fortunately, Jordan had done his part. He had come clean, admitting to not being the red Ranger, and that the real Rangers were amazing, strong, and hard-working heroes. Still words couldn't be taken back.

"Hey," he looked to her and then looked around, "I didn't think anyone would be out here."

Emma knew she needed an excuse for being out in this part of the woods, cleaning up after the Rangers. Fortunately, she was okay at lying. She gestured to her bike and then to her camera.

"Yeah, I was just out looking for some good shots when I came across this mess," she dumped the jugs and bottles in her blue bin and sighed, "At least this kind of counts as recycling. I just wish whoever made this web could clean up after themselves."

"It was the Rangers," Jordan admitted. "I followed them out here. They were training."

"That's pretty cool. I still wish they would clean up after themselves."

"They probably had to go save the world," Jordan chuckled. He looked to Emma, "Hey, you're Gia's friend, aren't you?"

Emma groaned. She should have seen this coming.

"Yeah. Look, if you…"

"You know, I never really noticed this before, but you're… you're beautiful," Jordan averted his gaze and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Look, I wasn't planning on going, you know, after being humiliated by my own lie and all that, but the dance is coming up and…"

"You know there's no jumping from me to Gia, right?"

Jordan seemed a little confused, "I'm not interested in Gia. Too much competition. Besides, blondes aren't really my type."

"Really?"

"Can I pick you up at six? We could just go as friends or maybe…"

"It's a date," Emma nodded her head and smiled happily. She was rarely noticed and had been asked out on so few dates especially compared to Gia that she would take any chance she got. She had seen for herself that in spite of his lie, Jordan was actually a nice guy, and thought she could do a lot worse. And, it seemed this wasn't a plot to get to Gia. Jordan seemed to have a real interest in her.

"Alright, cool," Jordan smiled. He then reached up to one of the branches and started to help Emma untie the ropes that were holding up the bottles. Emma blushed.

"You don't have too…"

"I want to help. I mean, I believe the environment can take care of itself, but it doesn't hurt to help it out a bit."

Emma had to look away so Jordan couldn't see her blush. She was definitely going to tell Gia about this once she got home.


	2. Asked To The Dance

His cell phone buzzing every couple of minutes was driving him crazy. Noah usually ignored his phone while he was working and whoever was trying to reach him would usually realize he was busy and wait for his reply at a later time. This wasn't the case. Noah set aside his homework to check his messages and groaned. They were all from Jake.

He set his phone aside and went back to work. Jake typically got the message. No matter how eager he was to share, he knew very well that Noah wouldn't reply when he was busy.

"Dude, seriously?"

Noah jumped out of his seat when he heard Jake's voice and turned to the window. Jake was hanging on the branch that reached out from the tree in Noah's front yard to his bedroom window. This was usually how Jake came to call on him when Noah spent too much time in his room, and it was the reason Noah's window was usually unlocked. Jake had free access to the house as long as he didn't eat any food without permission or break anything.

However, just because Noah kept the window unlocked, didn't mean he liked it when Jake dropped by unannounced. The black Ranger climbed inside the house, closed the window behind him and turned around, "You know, when someone messages you more than twenty times, it's usually important."

"What do you want now?" Noah groaned. Jake walked over and glanced at Noah's homework. Then he frowned.

"I don't remember having that assignment."

"It's extra credit," Noah said. "Mr. Burley was kind enough to give me a few extra assignments to do."

"He was kind enough? Nerd alert," Jake teased and sat down on Noah's bed.

"I want to take my education seriously," Noah turned around to look at Jake, "And, you know, you should too."

"Why? What's in it for me?"

"A future?"

"It's called a scholarship," Jake shrugged his shoulders. "I'm getting by. And once the scouts see my amazing soccer skills…"

"You have a YouTube video titled Epic Failure. It shows you scoring on your own net. That'll impress the scouts..."

"Do you know how hard it is to get through your entire team? That was the goal of the century. Anyone with a brain could see there was talent behind that."

"Yeah, but I don't know how many coaches would want to pay to have a confused player on their team," Noah shook his head. "And besides, you're going to need a fallback, especially now that we're Rangers. What if something happens on the soccer field or the battle field and you can't play anymore. What are you going to do then?"

"What if you get hit in the head so hard you can't study anymore?" Jake replied with a smirk, "Relax, Noah. I'm not failing my classes. I'll be fine."

Noah rolled his eyes, "Whatever. I doubt you came here to talk about school."

"Well, kind of," Jake answered, "The school dance is coming up and…"

"I'm flattered," Noah teased and turned back to his homework, "But I don't play for that team, Jake."

"Dude," Jake tossed a pillow at Noah's head, "I was going to tell you, I convinced Gia to go."

Noah dropped his pencil and slowly turned around, "You're kidding me."

"But she'll only go we all go. You know, Emma, me, Troy, you…"

"Dances aren't really my thing," Noah shook his head.

"What about the Harwood Social Hub? Don't you want to advertise that? What about that project?"

"I am working on it," Noah opened up his laptop to show Jake the new updates he had added, "I'm trying to come up with a feature that'll make it really special. You know, so people don't think it's just a Facebook rip-off."

"Please, Noah. Gia doesn't get to go to these kinds of dances. She's too scared. It'll be good for her to get out and have a little fun."

"Does she want to do this," Noah asked, "Or have you somehow…"

"I didn't do anything. She's missing out on all these fun school activities because of a bunch of jerks. Look, we can all go together and it'll be fun!"

"I don't know," Noah shook his head. "I mean, it could be fun, but…"

"I'll buy you dinner."

"It's a date," Noah smirked and he reached out to shake hands with Jake. The black Ranger stared at his best friend's hand, and then looked up. He groaned and accepted the handshake.

"There will be no goodnight kiss."

"That's fine," Noah teased as he turned around to focus on his homework, "You're not my type."

Jake frowned as he walked to the window. He stuck one foot out and reached for the tree and then stopped.

"Do you have a type?"

Noah shook his head, "I'm not really into dating just yet. You know, there's more to life than just girls and soccer, right?"

"And you know there's more to life than just science. Whatever, dude, I'll see you later. I've got to talk to Troy."

-Megaforce-

Gia knocked on the door but then walked right in. Emma had invited her over and, like usual, her parents weren't home. The girls had the house to themselves which gave them the perfect opportunity to hang out and talk without interruption.

When Gia found Emma, the pink Ranger was on the phone. Given the look of annoyance and disappointment on her face, it seemed she was talking to her parents. Gia sat down on the couch silently and waited for Emma to finish the call.

"But this weekend we were supposed to… no, I get it. It's important. I'll be fine. I'll go to Gia's if I need anything. I love you. Bye."

Emma set the phone down and then looked to Gia with a sigh.

"Ditched?"

"Mom's going with dad on the business trip," Emma answered. She grabbed her bowl from dinner and carried it over to the kitchen. Gia followed her.

"Is that why they aren't here now?"

"Dad had a meeting downtown, and I guess something came up," Emma put her dishes in the dishwasher and then turned to Gia, "Now he's got to travel to New York for the week, and mom decided she was going to tag along."

"That sucks."

"They were going to take me to Panorama," Emma nodded her head. "Apparently, the city's still recovering from those monster attacks from a while back. I figured I could do a little volunteering there. I was really looking forward to it."

"I guess that's a bust then," Gia said before digging into her pockets, "I'd offer to go with you instead, but I've got no cash."

"It's fine," Emma shrugged her shoulders, "It's probably best if I stay in town anyways. We've got our own monsters to deal with."

"Yeah, I guess," Gia sat down at the table and started to play nervously with the sleeve of her jacket, "Sometimes things do work out, though. If you're not leaving town, maybe you'll want to go to the school dance."

Emma stopped right in her tracks and dropped the glass of water she was bringing over for Gia. She stared at her best friend in complete and utter shock.

"A… a dance? After what happened last time, you want to go to a dance?"

Gia nodded her head slowly, "Jake talked me into it…"

Emma picked up the glass, but when she heard Gia mention Jake had brought up the subject of the dance the glass shattered in her hand. She let out a little whimper of pain which caused Gia to jump up and help her.

"Jake? You're going to the dance with Jake?" Emma asked as Gia brought over a towel to wrap around Emma's hand so the blood wouldn't drip on the floor.

"I'm going with all of you, hopefully. If I go, you'll be there, right? Jake's going to convince Noah and Troy to come along and we'll stick together. It'll be fine, right?"

"Yeah, just watch what you drink," Emma said and then looked right at Gia, "Are you sure this is something you want to do. No one's going to blame you for skipping out on social events after what happened…"

"I'm not having fun in high school," Gia whispered. She helped Emma up carefully so neither stepped in the broken glass as they walked to the sink. "Dad always tells me high school's supposed to be the best years of my life, and so far they've been pretty shitty."

"If your dad knew what happened, he'd never want you to take another risk," Emma said. "Have you thought this through? What if someone decides they want to one up Mick and Alex?"

"You're not going to let them, right?"

"Well… no. No, of course not but… I was already planning on going to the dance," Emma looked up nervously at Gia, "I was out in the woods earlier and I ran into Jordan. He asked me out."

"Oh…"

"I can cancel," Emma said as Gia left to find the first aid kit. If Gia had made up her mind about going to the school dance, Emma didn't want to make the same mistake she had made at the party. She had left Gia to hang out with Drew and that was how Mick and Alex managed to take advantage. Emma still felt guilty for that, and refused to let it happen again. No boy came above her best friend.

"No, it's fine," Gia found the first aid kit and brought it over. Emma pulled her hand out from the running water and let her best friend get to work. As Gia wrapped her hand she gave a little smile, "If you really like him, you should go for it."

"But if you want to go to the dance…"

"It's not like you won't be there," Gia said, "And Jake, Noah, and Troy will be there too."

"Yeah, Jake. You know, one of the many guys…"

"Jake's different."

"So you like him."

"No," Gia shook her head, "I don't like anyone, Emma."

"So?"

"We're just friends. We're just hanging out as friends. All of us. Besides, I've got to learn to trust those guys, right? And if those freaky symbols on our Ranger suits mean anything, Jake and I are partners. I'm really going to have to learn to trust him."

"Yeah, but you take baby steps first," Emma shook her head. "I mean, you don't… you don't trust him with this."

"You don't like him."

"No, it's not that. He's a sweet guy, I guess. They all are. It's just… I don't want to go back there again. Back to you hating yourself, you having your guard up all the time, even around me. I don't know Jake all that well and…"

"You don't trust him with me?"

"A bit," Emma bit her lip. "He doesn't know what you've been through. You're still Gia Moran to him. You're not just… okay, maybe he won't do anything. I guess he's earned himself a bit of credit by now, but what if he messes something up?"

"Troy and Noah will be there too. I'm not going if they aren't all going."

"Just… are you sure? You really want to do this again? You're still hurting, Gia, I know…"

"Maybe… maybe I need this," Gia looked to Emma, "I can't hide forever."

"So, you really want to do this?"

"You are going to be there, right?"

"Yeah… yeah. Jordan and I will both stay by your side if we have to. I'll convince him."

Gia had finished wrapping up Emma's hand and put away the first aid kit. Then she looked her best friend in the eyes.

"I need to meet him."

"Who? Jordan?"

"Yeah."

"Gia…"

"What? It's not like your parents are going to be around to do it."

"You've met Jordan."

"Can't say I got a good impression from him. If he acts firsts and thinks later, how's he going to treat you? I need to know he's got good intentions."

"Seriously, Gia?"

"Yes, seriously. I'm not letting what happened to me happen to you," Gia grabbed the phone and placed it in Emma's good hand, "Invite him to Ernie's. Tell him I'm buying."

"You're going to scare him off."

"If I do, good. You don't need a runner."

"You're the reason I've never had a long term boyfriend. You know that, right," Emma smirked teasingly as she dialled Jordan's number.

Gia smirked back, "I'd be fine keeping you all to myself for as long as we both live."

"I'd like a life," Emma replied playfully just before Jordan answered the phone. She left the room to speak privately, though Gia decided it would be fun to follow her around and make kissing noises whenever Jordan spoke.


	3. Team Trust

Jake wasn't too sure where he could find Troy, so he searched the places he thought Troy visited most often after school hours. However, the red Ranger wasn't at Ernie's nor was he at the park for his training. Jake decided to grab his phone and text his red Ranger friend to see if they could met up somewhere.

The reply he got was strange.

"What are you doing in Panorama?" he asked himself before sending that question to Troy. He sat down on a bench and waited for an answer back. He rolled his eyes. _"I was going to ask you to the dance."_

"_Aren't you into Gia?"_

"_As friends. I'm trying to get the whole team to go. Noah's agreed, and Gia's only going is everyone goes."_

"_And Emma?"_

"_Gia's talking to her. Please, dude. It'll be fun."_

"_Alright, I guess it can't hurt. I can't stay long, though. I have other plans that night."_

"_Thanks,"_ Jake smiled as he put his phone away. He had convinced Noah and Troy to come which was one step closer to getting Gia to the party. He thought about going to her house to tell her the news, but decided it could wait. The dance wasn't for a couple more days and he wanted to honour his promise about letting her have some space. He would see her again several times before the day of the dance and he could tell her then.

He made sure his bag was secure on his shoulder and raced home. He hoped he could squeeze in a couple hours of practice on the local soccer field before it got dark outside.

-Megaforce-

"Well, he didn't run home crying," Emma muttered as she and Gia walked through the doors of Emma's house after a night out with Emma's date. Gia, upon hearing Emma had been asked to the dance by a boy from school, had insisted on meeting him before the dance. To put Gia's mind at ease, Emma had agreed, but the risk was high. As protective as Emma could be for Gia, Gia's protective sense was ten times stronger. Gia had always been strong, smart, and confident growing up, and before high school she never let the thoughts of others bring her down. In a sense, what other people thought of her wasn't her top concern. Emma was a little more affected by what people said about her behind her back.

She was also more open and trusting, which from time to time put her at risk for getting burned. Gia had made that mistake once and it had almost completely destroyed her. As Jake had put it, that one mistake had really messed her up. Gia refused to let Emma fall into that trap and so had to check out her dates for herself.

"Jordan seems like a nice guy," Gia shrugged her shoulders and walked to the kitchen to help herself to a glass of water.

"For lasting that long with you grilling him, he's got to be," Emma grumbled. "Why did I say yes to this?"

"Not sure," Gia chuckled. "But hey, no loss, right. Now you know he's not doing this for the wrong reasons."

"Yeah, I think I figured that out when you threatened to castrate him if he even thought about hurting me. You know, I can take care of myself, right?"

"Hey, you've threatened your fair share of guys too," Gia pointed out. She looked over to Emma with a little smirk, "Jake told me what you told him the other day."

"When?"

"He stayed with me at the hospital," Gia said, "There was some time before my parents got there, and we passed it by talking. If it makes you feel better, Noah did the same to me."

Emma picked up her bag and carried it to the kitchen table. She had a bit of homework she needed to finish and thought she would take advantage of having Gia over so they could study together. Gia picked up on the hint and went to the hallway to get her bag.

"I guess any guy that seems even remotely interested in us is going to have to jump through the ring of fire at some point," she said as Gia sat down next to her at the table.

"It's not like he didn't get anything out of it," Gia answered. "I paid for his smoothie. Now, biology…"

-Samurai-

Troy didn't usually make the trip from Harwood to Panorama, but since becoming a Ranger he had spent a lot of time thinking about the lessons he had taken at the Shiba's Dojo and had stopped by for a quick visit. The lessons Lauren and Jayden had taught him were very useful now that she was a Ranger, and he had gone by to see if they had anymore advice. He tried his best not to make it obvious that he was asking because he was the red Ranger, but he had shared his dreams with them before, and had to walk in with the assumption that they were suspicious about his identity. He didn't want to put them in danger.

They had been more helpful than Troy thought, and had been able to answer his questions perfectly, leaving Troy without a doubt in his mind that they knew what they were talking about. They gave him pointers for his technique and how to improve, and also gave him advice about teaching. By now, it was obvious Troy was the best when it came to martial arts and so he took it upon himself to teach the others. He was red Ranger and leader. When it came down to it, the team depended on him to lead them into battle and to keep them safe.

As Jayden had stated, a part of keeping them safe was keeping them strong and independent. Troy had to be able to trust that if something happened, his team could take care of themselves without his leadership.

Fortunately, Troy was confident they were already on that path. In his last battle, he had been left too weak to take control of the Megazord and was embarrassed to say he had to rest while Jake, Noah, Gia, and Emma fought. Gia had stepped up and confidently took on the role as temporary leader so Troy could take it easy. Jayden said it was a good that his team didn't need to rely on him.

Troy took that information with him when he left the dojo and wanted to share it with the others. He would train them so they could take care of themselves.

However, beneath all that was the foundation of the team. Jayden and Lauren had both emphasized this several time in Troy's short visit. Trust. Troy needed to trust his team, and his team needed to trust him.

Going to the dance would help with that trust. The more he got to know his teammates, the better he would be at leading them into battle and fighting alongside them. He needed to make more of an effort.

More importantly, his trip to Panorama taught him that spontaneous trips out of the city without alerting his friends and teammates weren't recommended. If he wanted his team to trust him and if he wanted to be able to lead and protect them properly he needed to be available to them twenty-four/seven.

But he would start tomorrow. Tonight, his trip had worn him out. He took the bus and headed straight home, but even as he tucked himself into bed to sleep, he kept his phone on and turned the ringer up. If his team needed him for anything, he would answer the call.

-Megaforce-

Spontaneous sleepovers weren't uncommon for the girls, especially when Emma's parents were out of town for days at a time. After finishing their homework, Emma invited Gia to spend the night. But when Emma woke up in the middle of the night, Gia wasn't beside her in bed. She sat up and looked around the room. The door was opened.

Emma slipped out of bed and walked quietly out of the room. She tip-toed down the hall. The house was so quiet; she was worried that Gia had left in the middle of the night. She listened carefully for any sounds that would tell her where Gia had gone.

The bathroom was empty so Emma walked down the stairs, trying not to make them creak. If Gia wasn't expecting her, she didn't want to startle her best friend.

"Gia?" she whispered quietly as her feet touched the cold floor. She turned to the kitchen to check for Gia there. Still no sign of the yellow Ranger.

"You're worrying me, Gia," Emma whispered a little louder this time and tried the living room.

It seemed Gia wasn't in the house. Emma grumbled, slipped on a pair of shoes and walked outside. She found Gia sitting on the porch steps. She sighed and sat down beside her.

"I hate it when you do that," she said. Gia shrugged her shoulders.

"Sorry."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nope."

"Do you want a hug?"

Gia nodded her head and leaned into Emma. The pink Ranger responded by wrapping her arms around her best friend.

"We can talk to your parents about it. They should know."

"They won't get it," Gia answered. "I'll be okay."

"You sure?"

Gia nodded again.


	4. Table Talk

Troy carried his lunch tray around the cafeteria looking for signs of his teammates. After his trip to Panorama he was motivated to get to know them a little better. If he was going to risk opening himself up to anyone, it might as well be the people he trusted with his life.

At least, he might as well make it the people he needed to trust with his life.

He found them all sitting together at a table. Jake had somewhat alienated himself from his soccer friends in recent weeks. Since scoring for the wrong team and costing the school a win against Panorama High, most of the team didn't want much to do with him, especially as rumours started to circulate that Jake's mistake had been intentional.

Jake also didn't want to hang out with his soccer friends. Mick and Alex were both on the team, and Jake wanted to keep as much distance from them as he could.

Noah didn't have many friends outside of Jake, so he usually ate his lunch with his best friend. He was a member of a couple of clubs, but the other members preferred to eat while they worked on experiments or projects together. Noah joined them on occasion but for the most part he stuck with Jake.

Gia and Emma were always together, no matter what. Troy had no doubt they would be eating together. To see them all at one table was a little shocking and Troy realized he had likely missed out on some team bonding moments that had already occurred, choosing instead to spend some time alone or to train. He would have some serious work to do to get himself into the Ranger social group.

His team's smiles as he sat down were encouraging. He took the seat at the head of the table, where he thought he would be a little more included. Then, he noticed everyone had a meal from the cafeteria except for Emma, who seemed to have packed herself a lunch.

"No money?"

Emma shook her head, "There's only one vegetarian option."

"You're a vegetarian?"

"It would be hypocritical to preach about saving the environment and taking care of animals, and then turn around and eat meat," Gia stated and glared teasingly at Emma. The pink Ranger sighed and turned to Troy.

"I couldn't imagine eating any animals, especially given the way some of them are treated before they die."

"Don't even get her started on organic vs. non-organic," Gia whispered. "We'll be here all day."

"I think it's pretty cool," Troy said with a smile, "but, I don't think I could give up burgers."

"It's not for everyone," Emma laughed and turned her attention to Gia, "Right?"

Gia rolled her eyes, "You always say I won't be able to tell the difference, and I…"

"Always do. You know, it is healthier, right?"

"You know, I can eat bacon," Gia bit into her burger with a smirk.

"So, Troy, what's up," Jake asked as he shifted the conversation back over to Troy. "Aren't you normally in the gym or something?"

"I thought I would hang out with you guys today. Turns out, you were on the right path with the whole team getting together for the dance. It's good we get to know each other."

Jake was reminded about his news for Gia and turned to her happily, "By the way, Troy's coming."

"Didn't I just say that?" Troy asked as he leaned into Noah. The blue Ranger sighed.

"Don't worry, delusions aren't contagious."

Gia gave Jake a little smile, "I guess that means we're all going to the dance. It should be… fun…"

"You don't sound too excited," Noah sat up straighter in his seat. Gia set her burger down and picked at her fries. Emma placed her hand on her friend's back.

"You guys understand."

"You can tell them," Gia whispered to Emma. "Troy's right, it's best we get to know each other."

Emma let out a breath before nodding her head, "Gia had a nightmare about… well…"

"About the dance," this was a detail Gia hadn't shared with Emma just yet. "Let's just say, it was an instant replay of what happened at the party. They usually are."

"So this has happened before?" Noah asked. "Dreams about what happened at the party?"

"Yeah," Gia answered and then looked up and forced herself to smile, "but if we're all going, nothing's going to happen, right?"

"We're going to have fun," Jake assured her. Troy then cleared his throat.

"Uh… speaking of… well, dreams…"

"You have them too?" Emma asked with a look of concern. Troy shook his head.

"Not those kinds of dreams. They're… stranger. They're about… well, us."

"Us?"

"That's creepy," Jake glared at his leader, "We just met. I think you have to know someone a little better before you start dreaming about them."

"This coming from you?" Gia teased. "When's my birthday?"

"Today?"

"Nope."

Troy shook his head, "Guys, these aren't dreams like that. In fact, I wouldn't even call them dreams. Before Gosei ever summoned us, I dreamed about the Megaforce Rangers. I dreamt about a lot of other Rangers. Mostly red. I guess I know why, now."

"Have any of your dreams come true?" Noah asked.

"Not exactly. Some of the details have, like the Megaforce Rangers and Gosei, but…"

"Premonitions?" Gia looked to Troy skeptically, "Is that what you're trying to tell us? You're psychic?"

"I don't know," Troy said, "but there's something to it. I just thought I would share. You know, let you guys know why sometimes I'm staring off into space."

"Let us know if one of us is about to die or something," Jake chuckled. "Until then, I like my future to come as a surprise."

"Jake," Emma scolded with a shake of her head and then she touched Troy's arm, "If these dreams do mean something, I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"Yeah," Noah nodded, "If you need any help, I'd love to help you figure them out. Let me know next time you have a freaky dream and we'll try to decipher it."


	5. The Dance

Troy had never been to a school dance. Before meeting the Rangers, he usually avoided going to gatherings of any sort. He had even skipped out on his graduation dance in middle school because he was so introverted and shy. However, he was taking his leadership position to heart. He still couldn't understand why Gosei had chosen him specifically to be the red Ranger, but there had to be a reason for it. Troy thought, at the very least, he could let his team get to know who he really was. If he opened himself up to them, maybe the team would come together a little easier.

It wasn't easy. They got along, but the cliques were obvious to spot. The best friends stuck together and Troy was left by himself. Troy hoped that would change. He hoped they would band together.

More than anything, he hoped to one day have a friend like the others. From the outside, it was plain to see just how much trust and support his teammates had in their best friends. Jake and Noah teased each other constantly and even spoke to each other in a manner that could hurt the other. But their bond was so strong and their trust was so amazing that they always knew the other was kidding around. It came from years of sticking up for each other and years of working together. They could joke around and put the other down because they had reached that level of friendship where if they didn't take jabs at each other, it was because there was something seriously wrong.

Though he had been picked on before, Troy wanted that. He wanted someone to poke fun at him and for it to be all in the spirit of fun. He wanted a friend who would force him to laugh at himself and not always take his life and his troubles so seriously.

And Gia and Emma were very close as well. They did everything together. And given what Troy knew about the party Gia had gone to, where Alex and Mick had taken advantage of her, the girls had a relationship where they trusted each other more than anyone else they knew. They supported each other, and cared for each other. Troy had noticed that Gia always had Emma back in battle, and Emma returned the favour in their personal lives. He had watched the pink Ranger walk right up to the black Ranger and threaten his life if he did anything to hurt Gia, and though the threat wasn't directed his way, Troy could admit to feeling a little uncomfortable.

Troy wanted that as well. He wanted a friend he could trust his deepest and darkest secrets to without having to ask them to keep quiet. He wanted to share that connection with someone where they just knew what the other wanted.

In other words, he wanted to be a part of the team. He wanted to be friends with his teammates. Unfortunately, it wasn't as simple as it used to be. In kindergarten, friends were made by playing together.

In high school, everyone had history. Merging into that seamlessly seemed… impossible.

"Troy! Visitors!"

Troy hadn't been expecting anyone, but the footsteps racing up the stairs and to his room proved that he had guests on his way. He buttoned up his shirt. He wasn't sure what people wore to school dances but decided to go with a red shirt. It wasn't too fancy, but a little more classy than the regular tees he wore every day.

There was a knock on his door so he called to the person outside that it was open. Jake and Noah both walked in. Troy felt a wave of relief wash over his when he saw they were dressed similarly to them with the only difference being the colour. Jake stuck with black and Noah wore blue.

"Aren't we going to be obvious?" Troy asked, spotting the Ranger colour rainbow. Jake and Noah looked to each other and shook their heads.

"These have been our favourite colours since before the Rangers appeared," Noah said.

"C'mon, guys," Jake grabbed his friends by the arms, "I want to get there on time. We can't leave Gia waiting. We promised to be there for her."

"But I have no idea…"

"We'll tell you how Harwood High dances work on the way there," Jake interrupted Troy as he dragged him out of the room, "C'mon! We can't be late!"

-Megaforce-

Emma stepped out of her closet and spun around in her pink dress. She had chosen it specifically for the dance, hoping to impress Jordan. It meant a lot to her already that he had asked her out and she wanted to dress nicely for him. This was her first real date in a while.

"So?"

"You look really good," Gia complimented her. Emma smiled happily for a moment, but then couldn't stop herself worrying for her friend. Gia looked no more dressed up than on a regular school day. It was obvious there was no one she wanted to impress.

"You can borrow something of mine…"

"Dresses make it easy," Gia shook her head. "I'm going for me. I don't need to impress anyone."

"Nothing's going to happen, Gia," Emma sighed, "We're all going to keep an eye on you. Why don't you get a little dressed up?"

"There's no way I'm giving those perverts a show. Tonight, you can shine. I'll blend in."

"Gia…"

"You can have all eyes on you," Gia got up from the bed and put her hands on Emma's shoulders, "You'll be the pretty one. And the good kind of pretty. If any guy gets a sick smirk on his face and it's aimed in your direction, the yellow Ranger might just stop by to kick his ass."

"Not all guys are perverts," Emma assured her as she walked to her dresser. She opened her jewellery box to pick out a pair of earrings. "Sometimes, the fact that they stare is actually a compliment. I'll bet most guys in school wouldn't even imagine doing… that."

"Yeah, but they all cheered when someone else does it."

"You remember that?"

"I wasn't that out of it," Gia gave Emma a reassuring smile, "Look, this doesn't happen often for you so tonight's your night. You can be the most beautiful girl in the school. You can have all eyes on you in that complimentary way. You deserve it."

"Thanks. But there's only one set of eyes I want," Emma said. Just as she completed her thought, the doorbell rang. She jumped excitedly and raced down the stairs. Gia rolled her eyes as she followed.

"Right on time," Emma said as she opened the door and invited Jordan into her home. Gia stood in the hallway. She leaned against the doorframe that lead to the kitchen and crossed her arms over her chest.

Jordan looked to Emma. His jaw was dropped, "You look amazing."

"Eyes up," Gia called as Jordan admired Emma. He looked over to her and nervously shifted.

"Uh… Gia…"

"Relax," Emma chuckled as gently grabbed Jordan's arm and walked out with him, "She's harmless."

"I'm harmless?" Gia followed the couple, making sure to lock the house behind her as they left. "Alright, I'm agreeing with Jordan on this one. I can be terrifying, Emma. Why would you lie to the poor guy like that?"

Emma looked over her shoulder, "Because I won't have a good night if my best friend is constantly telling my very respectful date where to keep his eyes and hands."

Gia sighed but she knew Emma was right. The pink Ranger could take care of herself. She needed to stop worrying.

-Megaforce-

Jake couldn't dance. Everyone in Harwood knew that. But that didn't stop him from showing off his dance moves.

Noah stood by the snack table and shook his head. When people approached him to ask if Jake was okay, and if an ambulance needed to be called so someone could take a look at Jake's seizure, Noah pretended like he had no idea who Jake was. Troy, who spent most of his time with Noah by the snacks, had to laugh as Noah managed to convince a surprising number of people that he and Jake had never even seen each other before.

"You're really good at that."

Noah shrugged his shoulders and grabbed another handful of chips, "I've spent years denying I have any connections to Jake Holling. He's my best friend, don't get me wrong, but sometimes he can be…"

"Hey, Noah, right?" one of the school's jocks came over and tapped Noah on the back, "Is everything okay with Jake?"

"Who?"

"Aren't you two friends? The nerd and the jock."

"Why would a jock be friends with a nerd," Noah shook his head. "I don't know any Jack."

"Jake… uh… alright, I guess I'll ask someone else," the jock scratched his head and walked off. Noah turned to Troy with a smirk.

"Jocks are the easiest to fool," he explained. "If they take one too many hits to the head, they'll believe almost anything someone in glasses tells them. I once convinced the football team I had been to space."

"Seriously?"

"Harwood's not known for having too many smart jocks."

"What about Jake."

"Have you seen his dancing?" Noah laughed and pointed to Jake on the dance floor, "There's a reason smart guys aren't usually dancing. We're smart enough to know we can't dance well, and smart enough to know we shouldn't dance at all."

Troy smiled and nodded his head. Then he looked back out to the dance floor but this time he turned his attention to Emma and Jordan, surprised to see they had arrived together and were on a date.

"Emma looks really happy."

"The school mostly focuses on Gia," Noah explained. "That means Emma, and most of the other girls fall through the cracks. Well, Emma most of all because she and Gia are always together. If I were to guess, this is one of the first times a guy was sincere about asking her on a date."

"Good for her," Troy said. He turned back to Jake and shook his head, "Well, at least someone's having fun."

"I hope he knows those dance moves couldn't impress anyone, never mind Gia," Noah said with a sigh.

On the dance floor, Jake looked up and saw Gia standing with her head in her hand. She shook it from side to side in embarrassment.

"You can't dance!"

"You have to let loose," Jake said and spun around, "Dancing should be fun. You need to relax and just go with the music."

"You haven't hit a single beat," Gia rolled her eyes and then laughed, "You know, it must take a lot of talent to screw up dancing this badly."

Jake smirked before the music suddenly calmed. After several dance tracks, the DJ had finally chosen a slower song. The couples paired up on the dance floor leaving Gia and Jake to stare. He shrugged his shoulders.

"We don't have to dance if you don't want to," he started to head over to the snack table to join the others but suddenly Gia grabbed his arm. She pulled him back and wrapped her arms gently around his neck.

"Hands on hips, and we'll be fine, _friend_."

Jake smiled and lightly placed his hands on Gia's hips. They swayed back and forth slightly. Gia couldn't keep herself from laughing. Even with such a slow, easy song to dance to, Jake still couldn't get the rhythm right.

"Follow my lead," Gia said and took over. Jake gave her a warm smile.

"So, I know some people are staring and whispering," he said. "But if you ignore them, was this a good idea."

"I'm not drunk or high, no one's tried to touch my ass in ten minutes," Gia answered, "and I'm having fun. Yeah, Jake, this was a good idea."

A little ways away, Emma and Jordan swayed to the song, enjoying the change of pace to give them time to rest. Suddenly, Jordan pulled Emma in a little closer.

"You really do look beautiful tonight," he said. "I mean, you've always been beautiful but… wow, I wasn't expecting this."

Emma blushed, "Thanks. You know, normally people don't see past Gia. It's kind of… upsetting."

"It's their loss," Jordan smiled. "You're really beautiful and… you're an amazing person to."

"We barely know each other."

"I've seen you around school. I know you do a lot of volunteering," Jordan shrugged his shoulders. "You care about the environment, animals, and people. You don't just want the world to be a better place, you fight for it."

"Yeah… well, I guess."

"That's impressive. There's not another girl like you in this school."

"Thanks," Emma couldn't stop her face from turning red so she decided to change the subject and take the attention away from herself. "What about you? I've seen you around, but not much. What are your hobbies?"

"I haven't really found something that speaks to me," Jordan said, "but since that Ranger stunt, I think I've been leaning towards police work. You know, after high school."

"You want to be a cop?"

"The Rangers help people and that's really, really cool," Jordan smiled. "When I was pretending to be the red Ranger, I bragged a lot about kicking monsters' butts, but I also really liked the feeling of knowing I was protecting innocent people… even if it was all a lie. I figure, if I can't be a Ranger, I might as well set my sights on the next best thing."

"Police work?"

"I know it's not always like in the movies, but I'll be doing what I can to make this world a better, safer place."

"The Rangers really turned you around, huh?"

"They're good people. Amazing people. I'm really, really thankful for what they do," Jordan looked down at Emma with a smile and slowly started to lean in. She picked up in his signals and closed her eyes.

It was her first kiss, and nothing about it had disappointed her. Jordan was gentle and romantic, and when they parted Emma leaned into him. She rested her head on his chest and as they continued to sway she looked across the dance floor at Gia. Her best friend gave her a big smile.


	6. After The Dance

Emma and Jordan wanted some privacy on their walk home, so Gia hung back with the boys. They were going to Jake's for the weekend, as he had invited them for a guy's night to relax after the party, and Gia and Emma were spending another night together, taking advantage of the fact that Emma's parents were still gone to enjoy having a place to themselves. Occasionally they joked about how they lived in the house more than Emma's parents.

"I brought all my favourite video games," Noah said to Troy as he showed the red Ranger the contents of his bag. Noah never went anywhere without his bag or his laptop and had even brought it to the dance with him. He didn't use it, but he felt better knowing his laptop was ready to use at any moment. "Some of the games are four player, so the three of us should have no problem."

Troy nodded his head. Video games weren't really his thing, but he knew he had to make an effort.

"Sounds fun."

"There's even some martial arts games," Noah pulled out a couple of cases he was sure would interest Troy, "We can do a bit of compromising."

Beside the blue and red Rangers, Gia and Jake walked side by side. Gia was mostly quiet on the walk home but Jake had a skip in his step. He knew the dance was nothing more than a group of friends hanging out (well, Emma was on a date), but he had gotten Gia to open up and relax, something she had admitted not being able to do often. He had seen her smile and she told him the night had been fun. For once, she hadn't seemed cold and aloof. She was happy, and Jake was proud to be a part of that. So when Gia came to him, asking if he could walk her home with the other guys so Emma could be alone with Jordan, he couldn't refuse.

"Alright, so I know you might kill me or something for saying this but here goes," Jake said and shifted slightly away from Gia, "You're even more beautiful when you smile."

Gia gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder, but there was nothing but playfulness behind it. Jake chuckled.

"Sorry. I just thought I would point that out."

Gia rolled her eyes and then grabbed Jake's arm to stop him walking. She called out to the other boys. When they turned to her curiously, she gestured down the sidewalk to where Emma's house stood. Emma and Jordan, who had left before the others, were sitting on the front porch steps with their lips locked together.

"Do you guys mind waiting a bit?" she asked. "This is a big night for Emma and I don't want to ruin it."

Noah and Troy both nodded and took a seat on the bus stop bench. Noah had enough battery in his laptop to show Troy one of the games they would play later that night. Jake and Gia sat down on the curb and looked out at the street.

"Thanks," Gia whispered. "This was a good idea."

"The dance?"

"Yeah."

Jake shrugged his shoulders, "I know you're not ready for anything, Gia, and I don't want to pressure you, but not every guy likes you just for your looks."

"It's hard to wrap my head around that," Gia said honestly. "If you heard half the comments I get or read half the things people write about me in notes or online or…"

"Yeah, I do," Jake said, "and it's always disgusted me. You deserve better than that."

"Emma says that too…"

"And she's right."

Gia sighed, "I know… I know, but… it's hard. You have no idea what it's like. The comments… they all started off innocent enough, but there's only so many times you can hear every guy in school say 'I'd tap that' before you start to think that's all they want. And when that's exactly what they do, first chance they get…"

"Mick and Alex weren't first, but is what the last guy did really any worse? I mean, I can't imagine it…"

"It was worse. Way, way worse."

"What did he do?"

Gia shook her head and then turned away from Jake. He regretted instantly having asked her and put his arm around her shoulder for a warm, friendly hug.

"I'm sorry. If you're not ready then… I won't pressure you. I promise," he assured her, "but… can you promise me something?"

"Jake, I…"

"Don't shut Emma out," Jake said before Gia got the wrong idea. He would wait for her, and if one day she did decide to give him a shot, he would take it without hesitation, but only if she wanted it.

Gia looked to him curiously, "I would never shut Emma out."

"Yeah, you would. I'm sure you already have, even just a little bit. You remember why I'm scared of hospitals?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't talk to anyone for about a month after my last relative died. It hurt way too much and I didn't think anyone else felt the same way I did. Dad never cried in front of me, and mom did her best to stay strong for me. But when I did open up, everything that felt so heavy suddenly got so much easier. I figured out my parents felt the same way I did. Maybe Emma didn't get… taken advantage of, but she was there for you through everything, right? She'll understand. So don't shut her out. Don't tackle this thing alone. You'll see, it'll be so much easier to deal with. And maybe we'll get to see that smile a little more often."

Gia leaned into Jake as he gave her a gentle squeeze. Then she pulled away, kissed his cheek, and got up.

"You're a good guy, Jake. I've got to go."

"See you Monday?"

"Sooner, if the aliens invade," Gia nodded and walked to Emma's house.

Troy and Noah had watched the scene since Jake had successfully gotten his arm around Gia and couldn't believe what had happened after that. Not only had Gia _not_ given him hell for touching her, but it seemed she had opened herself up a little more to Jake _and_ she had given him a _kiss_ on the cheek.

"Dude…" Noah stuffed his laptop back in his bag and pulled Jake up to his feet, "How on Earth did you do that?"

Jake shrugged his shoulders casually and started to make his way down the sidewalk, headed for home, "You know, if you believe in yourself enough, other people start to believe in you too."

"She kissed you," Troy said. Though he was still the new kid, even he knew that was something special, "You just got Gia to give you a kiss."

"On the cheek," Jake brushed it off as though it was nothing, even though his heart was pounding. He turned to his friends, "So, video games until we pass out?"

Down the sidewalk, Gia reached Emma's yard and found the couple were still making out on the front porch. Gia was happy for her best friend, and knew this night had been a long time coming. She wanted Emma to savour every minute of it. However, enough was enough. Gia wanted to get inside and she couldn't do that without interrupting the date.

"Jordan," she said as she cleared her throat. Jordan pulled away from Emma and looked up embarrassed. He straightened himself out as he got to his feet.

"Sorry…"

"It's fine. Emma's a big girl," Gia shrugged her shoulders. She gave Jordan a pat on the back, "Just don't hurt her and we won't have any problems."

"Gia…" Emma groaned and looked to Jordan apologetically. He shrugged his shoulders.

"It's a fair deal."

Gia smirked to Emma and then turned back to Jordan as he started to leave, "Oh, by the way, sorry for being so harsh on you the other day. I'm sure Emma's told you I can be a little… protective. So, uh… tell your boys I'm sorry for scaring them.

Jordan gave a little nod, and then said goodbye to Emma one more time before he started on his walk home. Gia gave Emma the key to the house and chuckled as her best friend glared at her.

"You're so annoying…."

"I apologized to him. I think he's an okay guy. Isn't that what you want?"

Emma rolled her eyes and opened the door. The girls walked in. Gia took off her boots and started upstairs, more than ready for bed. Emma stopped her by clearing her throat. When Gia turned around she gave a little smirk.

"What?"

"Don't you want to know how my night went?"

"I saw how it went," Gia chuckled, "I was almost going to call up Gosei and ask if he had any crowbar cards I could use."

Emma followed her friend up the stairs and took her by the arm, "Jordan's really sweet. Did you know he wants to be a police officer?"

"Really?"

"We're going out tomorrow night. Is that okay? My parents won't be home, so you'll have the house to yourself."

"Fine by me," Gia nodded her head, "I'll order myself some dinner and make a night of it. Think your dad left his credit card behind?"

"Mom probably took it with her to do some shopping," Emma chuckled, "and they probably wouldn't like you using it."

"Worth a shot," Gia shrugged her shoulders and then she leaned into Emma, "So… anything else about tonight you want to share?"

Emma smiled and pulled her best friend up to her room.


	7. Dreams of Death

Troy woke up in a cold sweet and on a strange floor. He, Jake, and Noah had fallen asleep playing video games – proven by the TV screen flashing game over in each of their character's boxes. Troy turned off the TV, crawled out of his sleeping bag and quietly walked out of the room and to the bathroom. He splashed some cold water on his face and looked into the mirror.

He had had another dream, but this was far different from the last. Jake had only been teasing when he said he wanted Troy to warn him if he was going to die, but this was no joke.

Troy's dream involved a great war, like many of them did. His team of Rangers, as well as many others from the past were all there fighting against an army of evil monsters. It was a great battle, bigger than anything Troy had seen before. And, unlike other great battles before, if the good team didn't win, the world wouldn't just change, it would be destroyed. All of humanity would be wiped out.

But, like in all wars, there were casualties on both sides. Troy had seen Rangers fall before in his dreams, but they were Rangers from teams he didn't know. While it was sad, there was a level of distance. Troy could easily shake off their deaths and tell himself he would do his best, should his dream come true, to save as many lives as possible.

This time, it was his team that had died. Jake, Noah, Gia, and Emma all sacrificed their lives for the greater good and Troy was helpless to stop them. It hurt to think the only people he wanted to form a friendship with in years might be ripped away from him.

He wasn't sure what the dreams meant. Occasionally they came true, like his dream of Megaforce Red, but not all of them had happened yet, and some dreams were variations of other dreams. His teammates had never died before, but tonight they had.

If he was trying to be psychic, he was failing miserably at it. No one would pay to hear a list of different ways their life might turn out.

"Dude, is everything okay?" there was a knock on the bathroom door as Jake came to check up on Troy. "You've been gone too long for this to just be a midnight pee. Unless it's a dump, in which case…"

Troy opened the bathroom door. Both Noah and Jake were standing there. He invited them in.

Jake sniffed the air before he walked in. Troy closed the door behind the boys and then took a seat on the edge of the tub. He rubbed his face in his hands and sighed.

"I had another dream."

"Future dream?" Jake asked. He jumped up and sat on the counter. Noah, reluctantly, lowered the lid and sat on the toilet.

"Yeah."

"Well, unless I die…" Jake tried to tease but Troy looked up to him with a very serious expression. Jake's face fell, "Oh…"

"It might not come true," Troy tried to comfort him. "It was the same war, a great war, and you guys have never died before…"

"Guys?" Noah suddenly grew very concerned, "You mean, it's not just Jake that's going to die? That would have been fine with me but…"

"Dude," Jake slapped his friend in the chest, "You'd miss me."

Noah rolled his eyes before turning back to Troy, "So… how do we die?"

"Heroically," Troy answered. "It's a war. How else? The bad guys got you. You… uh… got shot and bled out before anyone could help."

"And me?" Jake asked.

"Sword through the chest."

"A sword?" Jake shrugged his shoulders, "Alright, there are worse ways to go, I guess."

"Do you think this could happen? Noah asked, "Like, is this really what the future holds? I mean, this Ranger business, I know it's risky but… has a Power Ranger ever died before?"

"Yeah," Troy nodded his head. Jake and Noah looked to him with a mixture of concern, fear, and curiosity. Troy pointed to his head, "I also get dreams of the past. I've seen a few Rangers from past teams die."

"It's a high risk job," Jake said, "I guess… it was always in the cards. We've been pretty lucky no one's been seriously hurt yet."

"And we need to keep it that way," Troy stood up, "I know we agreed to play video games, but what if tomorrow we go out to the woods and train for a bit? The more prepared we are, the better our chances of coming out alive. We can practice a few Ranger rescues scenarios. You know, in case one of us does get hurt in the middle of the battle and escape isn't an option."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Noah nodded his head and turned to Jake. The black Ranger nodded his head.

"I can call the girls. See if they're up for a training lesson."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door before it slowly started to open. The boys tensed up just as Jake's father poked his head into the bathroom.

"Do I want to know what's going on here?" he asked.

"We're just going over ideas for our science project," Jake explained quickly, "Troy's kind of freaking out about it."

"And you're doing it in the bathroom? You know, Jake, your mother and I bought you that desk for a reason, right? You use it to study and work on assignments."

"We needed water," Noah lied, "Sorry, Mr. Holling. We'll just finish up in here and then we'll go back to bed."

"Alright," Jake's father slowly started to leave the room, "If you boys need to talk about anything… talk to your own fathers."

"Will do," Troy and Noah both nodded their heads. Jake reached over to turn on the tap and waited a couple of minutes until he was sure his father was in bed. Then the boys went back to Jake's room to get some sleep.


	8. Close Call

Emma was used to being in the woods by herself. However, this time it was different.

After another dream, Troy had the idea of having a team training lesson. He was worried about what would happen if, in a battle, one of the Rangers got hurt and thought it was a good idea to train for that possibility. Every other Ranger had pretended to be hurt or missing and now it was Emma's turn. Her story was that the Loogies had caught her off-guard and they had taken her somewhere the Rangers couldn't find her.

How it played out in training: The Rangers counted to a hundred while Emma hid. This was a big game of hide-and-seek, and Emma was bored with it already.

She had to keep low and so had been lying on the ground and looked up at the sky. The trees clouded her view, but she loved to look up and admire the leaves and listen to the singing birds. Her mind would wander off at times like these, leaving her in a state of complete peace.

Until she heard a twig crack. Nothing in her missing case said she had to pretend to be unconscious so without moving around too much she sat up and had a look around. She assumed one of her teammates was close to finding her and she would do what she could to help.

"Gia?" she called, assuming her best friend would find her first. Whenever she was in trouble she knew she could count on Gia. She didn't get a response.

Her heart started to race. Rarely did anyone venture this far out into the woods, and there had been one time Emma had been alone and she had run into one of the aliens she was now fighting against. She got lucky that time, as Gosei as summoned her and she had been teleported out of danger, but that wouldn't always be the case, and if the aliens were back and she was alone, she was in danger.

She stayed low but got to her feet. She crouched behind a bush and followed the trail of sound. All her time spent tracking animals for picture-taking or observation as developed her ear and she could pick up on sounds most people couldn't. More than that, she was better at locating a sound that most other people while also keeping quiet. Many of the animals she liked to observe were easily spooked and would run if they heard a twig snap and picked up on her scent.

But this was no monster. However, he was an animal. When Emma spotted who had come this far out into the woods she stood up straight. The bush she had been hiding in rustle and he turned to her.

"Emma?"

"You're back?" she glared at him. He nodded his head, rubbed the back of his neck, and shrugged slightly.

"Just in town for the weekend. Thought I would stop by for a visit."

"Who do you have to visit this far into the woods?" she asked.

"Didn't Gia love coming out here? You know, animal pictures and stuff like that?"

Emma rolled her eyes and scoffed, "You didn't even have the decency to get to know her, Cliff. Just get lost."

"Emma…"

"Fine, I'll get lost," Emma turned her back to Cliff and stormed off. She didn't get very far as he came after her, catching her wrist. He spun her around.

"I want to see her."

"She left," Emma pulled her wrist from his grasp and looked him in the eyes. "She told her parents about you and they moved to get her out of here. No one wants to see you again. Not after…"

"Where did she move to?"

"Angel Grove," Emma answered. Cliff put his hands in his pockets and sighed.

"That's… far."

"Not far enough for my taste," Emma muttered. She turned her back to Cliff one more time and managed to get far enough away from him.

Only not far enough before Gia emerged from the bushes looking a little tired but then relieved she managed to find Emma. Gia looked to her best friend with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You're supposed to be hurt."

Emma shrugged her shoulders, "Sorry… I uh… got bored."

Gia rolled her eyes and gave her friend a light tap on the arm, "You're it. Training's over. Troy promised to buy us all smoothies so…"

Emma's ears picked up on danger. It wasn't hard for Cliff to follow her trail, and the noise was coming from his direction. Not wanting Cliff to know Gia was anywhere in or near the city; Emma grabbed her best friend, covered her mouth with her hand so Gia wouldn't cry out in protest and pulled her into a thick bush. She had to pin her down to keep her quiet so she could listen to Cliff's footsteps. She needed to know when he was gone and far enough so he wouldn't hear Gia yelling at her, which given the way Gia was looking up at her, Emma was in for an earful.

Cliff walked right by the bush without a clue the girls were hiding inside. He spent some time looking around but eventually gave up and walked away. Emma waited for his footsteps to be gone and then waited a little longer. She let out a breath and let go of Gia. The yellow Ranger pushed her off and then shoved her again before getting up.

"What the hell was that?"

"I'm sorry, Gia, I…"

"No! Just… No!" Gia slapped away Emma's hand as the pink Ranger reached out to try to comfort her. She wouldn't have it, "I'm going home."

"AHA!" Jake, Troy, and Noah emerged from the bushes and smiled when they found Emma, but then noticed Gia running off. Jake looked to Gia's retreating figure curiously while Troy and Noah turned their attention to Emma.

"What happened?"

Emma sighed, "I thought I heard… a Loogie," she lied. "Ranger instincts haven't sunk in so I pulled Gia into the bushes to hide. I kind of had to pin her down. She didn't like it, obviously."

"Uh… okay," Jake turned to Emma, "Should we maybe…"

"I'll go after her," Emma said, "You guys go to Ernie's. Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Emma nodded and started to take off. She didn't want Gia getting too far. Not when Cliff was nearby. If the two ran into each other… Emma didn't want to imagine what would happen.

She took off and ran as fast as she could. She knew Gia was headed back to her house and Emma knew the path Gia would take. It was one of the perks of being best friends forever.

But instead of running into Gia, the path to Gia's house led her right back to Cliff. She stopped in her tracks and looked startled. Something Cliff picked up on right away.

"What's the rush?" he asked her. Emma tried to leave but he was just a little faster, catching her by the arm. When she tried to pull free, he grabbed her other arm and pulled her in closer. There was a smirk on his face. "Gia's not in Angel Grove, is she?"

"She moved out a year ago."

"You two keep in touch?"

"You're not seeing her."

"That should be her call to make. I want to see her. At least give me her number."

"Fine," Emma sighed dejectedly, "but I'll need my arms to write it."

"Fine," Cliff answered and he let her go. Emma wasted no time getting away, however Cliff had sharp reflexes. He grabbed her again but wasn't as gentle as before. He pulled her back and then shoved her into a tree. Emma needed a minute to catch her breath and when she did, she tried to run again. Cliff grabbed her again and punched her in the stomach. When she was down, he gave her one more kick to the ribs before turning away.

"Whatever. I'll find her myself," he muttered. Emma watched him walk away before she tried to get up to her feet. It was a task that seemed impossible as a sharp pain in her ribs caused her to drop back to the ground.

She tried to take a deep breath but it hurt too much and even more if she called out for help. It would be stupid to call for help anyways. Cliff would hear her and Emma wasn't ready for a round two.

She hoped there was never a round two.

Instead, she reached for her phone in her back pocket and decided to call one of the guys. If they were headed to Ernie's, they wouldn't pass this way and find her on their own, and Gia was likely long gone. Just as she was about to dial Troy's number, she heard the bushes rustling again. Thinking it was Cliff, she had to put the phone away, knowing he would be smart enough to know she had Gia's number in her phone.

"Emma?" the voice didn't belong to Cliff, but Gia. Emma looked over and tried to sit up as Gia rushed over to help. "What the hell…?"

"Loogies," Emma lied. Gia didn't need to know Cliff was in town. She didn't need to know Cliff had done this. With help from Gia, she got to her feet. "I thought you were mad at me."

"Yeah, and I still am, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you get hurt… or stay hurt," Gia muttered. She let Emma lean on her as they started to head back, "About earlier… was that…"

"Loogie," Emma nodded. "Ranger instincts haven't set in yet. I guess my brain hasn't changed the flight to fight. I'm really sorry."

Gia had no reason to believe Emma would lie to her, "No, I'm sorry. I just…"

"Panicked."

"You don't just get over it, you know," Gia sighed. "Cliff, Mick, and Alex, that's what they did. They made me feel helpless and weak. I know you wouldn't hurt me."

"Never… ah," Emma hissed and had to stop moving. Gia lowered her down. She saw Emma clutching her ribs and so she moved her arm, lifted her shirt, and had a look for herself.

"They might be cracked," Gia said, "Do you want me to take you to the doctor's?"

"No… I'll be fine. If mom and dad find out, what'll I tell them?"

"Biking accident?"

"And have them tell me I can't go biking because it's too dangerous? Besides, the doctor will just tell me what you just did, and then I'll be told to rest and take pain medication. It's a waste."

"Alright… but let me know if it hurts too much or you have trouble breathing or… something," Gia helped Emma up once more as they started to walk back, "I guess I'm spending another night at your place."

"We'll order pizza," Emma said, "Make a movie night. Turn off our cell phones, hide out in my room and just watch movies all night."

"Yeah, sounds fun. After I check out your ribs, though."

"Yeah, naturally," Emma laughed and then regretted it. Gia looked at her with a shake of her head.

"Seriously? Loogies?"

"And how did you end up in the hospital again?"

"Shut up…"


	9. A Rare Breed

Gia heard giggling from the living room and couldn't stop herself from smiling, glad to hear Emma so happy.

After finding her hurt in the forest, she had taken Emma home. Fortunately, there was no need to explain Emma's injuries to her parents because they were still away, which meant Gia and Emma had Emma's house to themselves. Gia had to explain a little bit to her parents because she hadn't gone home in days and they were worried about her, but she insisted she was keeping Emma company while she was sick with the flu.

She had been promised a movie night with her best friend, but just before the movie started Jordan had stopped by. Emma had forgotten they had a date night planned, but had been willing to reschedule so as not to ruin her movie night with Gia.

Gia insisted Jordan come in. She had had hundreds, if not thousands of movie nights with Emma, and surely there were thousands more in their future. She could sacrifice one. And hearing Emma laughing with Jordan about the movie and about the stories they shared was well worth it.

Even if Gia did have to remind Emma to take it easy with her ribs. She wrapped a bag of ice in a tea towel and brought it to the living room. She gave it to Emma with a roll of her eyes.

"You'll heal faster if you stop laughing like a hyena. I've seen this movie and it's not that funny."

"Sorry," Emma chuckled as she exchanged loving looks with Jordan, "He was just telling me about that time he..."

"Spoiler alert," Gia shook her head. "If Jordan's staying long term, I want to hear his stories for myself. Do you guys need more popcorn?"

She picked up the bowl without waiting for an answer and walked back to the kitchen, letting the couple resume their movie night privately.

Emma gently placed the pack of ice down on her ribs, hissing slightly, and then hissed from hissing. Breathing wasn't easy with a cracked rib. Jordan looked to her sympathetically and then tried to help with the ice.

"So, how did this happen again?" he asked.

"Biking accident," Emma lied again. She couldn't tell the truth and she couldn't share her initial lie with Jordan. As sweet as he was, and even though he knew to stay out of the Rangers' way, he didn't need to know Emma's secret.

He also didn't need to know she had run into Cliff. That was a secret for herself, and if she told Jordan, it would only lead to more questions. No one needed to know about Cliff or that he was in town.

"BMX. Pretty cool," Jordan said with a nod. Emma agreed but pointed to her ribs at the same time.

"Until you run into a root and get thrown from your bike."

"Well, yeah," Jordan chuckled. He placed his hand down on Emma's legs, which lay across his lap. She was more comfortable lying down on the couch than sitting up, especially when it came to keeping her ice-pack in place, and so the only place Jordan had to sit if he wanted to be near her was under her legs. He gave her a little smile, "I'm glad you're okay, though. It could have been worst, right?"

"Yeah," Emma sighed just as Gia walked into the room with a fresh bowl of popcorn, "I could have run into something a lot worse."

"Than a tree?" Gia knew Emma's cover story so she played along. Emma shook her head.

"Root."

"It's part of a tree. I'm going to go upstairs for a bit. Do you need anything? A blanket or…"

"We're fine, Gia." Emma chuckled and tossed one of the pillows for the couch at her best friend, "Leave us alone already."

"Alright. Just call if you need anything."

Gia grabbed the leftover pizza from the couple and took the box upstairs. She would have a night to herself until Jordan went home and decided to make the most of it. She fell into Emma's bed, grabbed her bag, pulled out her notes, and got a head start on the readings for next week's classes. She liked to stay ahead and found it easier to figure out the lesson when she already knew what her teachers were trying to tell her.

And it was always fun to watch them stutter and stumble when she brought up a point that hadn't yet been discussed. Getting the teacher stumped was a great way to pass time in class. If not, the day took forever to pass.

She wasn't sure how long she had been reading and taking notes but she heard the door closing and thought it was Jordan leaving. She put away her notes, got out of Emma's bed and walked to the hallway. Emma was making her way up.

"He's gone?"

"He's going to church with his mom tomorrow morning," Emma nodded her head and smiled, "He looks forward to it. Is a good little catholic boy holy enough for you?"

"Anyone who believes in abstinence until marriage is fine in my books," Gia chuckled. She walked with Emma back to the bedroom and then had to help her get into her pyjamas. Once they were changed, Gia went back to bed but Emma decided to sit at her desk and turn on her laptop. Gia rolled over and looked to see what the pink Ranger was doing.

"Flowers?" Gia asked. She was too far to read the small writing on the screen, but could see a picture of a flower. Emma nodded her head.

"Magnus Bloomus Annulus. It's a super rare flower."

"And?"

"This is a picture from a hundred years ago."

"Explains the black and white."

"These flowers only bloom once a year and they're usually never spotted. No one knows exactly why they bloom."

"That is pretty cool. So is it in bloom today?"

"Tomorrow, I think," Emma turned around in her and sighed, "If I've done my math right."

"What do you mean?"

"No one knows exactly when it blooms, but it is around this time of year. I've gone a few times to check it already, and last year I was a day late. I was sure I was going to catch it this year."

"So why can't you?"

"Would you recommend biking with a cracked rib?" Emma sighed and closed her laptop, "It's fine. I guess I can catch it next year… if it's still there."

"Does it have legs too?"

"It's delicate," Emma explained, "and Earth's only getting more and more polluted. Plus, those aliens we fight on a daily basis, they don't look very green to me."

She got into bed and held the ice-pack to her chest. She lay down beside Gia and turned off the light."

"We can walk to it…"

"It's too far, and too much of a hike for my ribs," Emma shook her head. She turned her head and smiled at Gia, "Don't worry about it. It's just a flower. I'm sure I'll see many more amazing things."

"Yeah," Gia nodded. The room fell silent and Emma closed her eyes to sleep. Gia pretended until she heard Emma's breathing even out. First, she took the cold ice-pack away from her best friend, not wanting her to freeze or have the ice melt and wet the bed. Then she took Emma's laptop and walked out into the hall. She sat down against the wall and turned on the laptop. When it asked for a password, she entered it without hesitation. She knew it well. It was her birthday. Her own password was Emma's birthday. The girls had done it that way so they could share everything without sharing it with the world.

She found the page explaining the flower and sighed. Gia knew how much Emma loved nature, and discovering the mysteries of the Earth had been her passion for longer than she could remember. Getting the chance to find an extremely rare flower that only bloomed once a year in full bloom was a dream come true.

Gia just had to figure out how to make it come true. She had no doubt that finding the fragile, elusive flower was quite the hike and it would be too much of a pain in Emma's ribs to make the travel on foot or on her bike. But there had to be another way.

A smirk appeared on her lips when an idea popped into her head.

-Megaforce-

Emma woke up when something hit the bed, shaking her from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes and groggily looked up to Gia's smiling face.

"Oh no…"

Gia pointed to the bag she had dropped on the bed, "I've got snacks, lots of water, and a cooler with so many ice-packs we could keep a penguin cool. We're going hiking."

"Gia…"

"You can walk fine with a crack rib. I Googled it."

"Yeah, but it hurts…"

"But in twenty years, your rib isn't going to hurt, and you'll have missed out on… Mega Bloominus Annuola?"

"Magus Bloomus Annulus."

"Yeah, that. C'mon, I'm taking you hiking. If we leave now, we should be there by this afternoon, with breaks."

"Gia…"

"And I'll drive to the forest so there's less of a walk," Gia jiggled the car keys over Emma's head, "C'mon. I don't want you to have to miss out because some stupid Loogie decided to mess with you. Get up, we're going to see that… special flower."

Very carefully, but somewhat forcefully, she pulled her best friend out of bed. Emma groaned in protest but once she was up, she figured there was no going back into her warm and comfortable bed.

"Just let me get breakfast…"

"Packed it," Gia tapped the big, heavy bag before putting it on her back, "All you need to do is get dressed. And I saved you some trouble by laying out your clothes for you."

"Are you my mother?"

"I might as well be," Gia chuckled. "Now, need help?"

"You picked out my clothes, I think I can… ow… okay, yeah, maybe a little help."

As Gia came over to help her change, Emma looked to her best friend with a wide smile.

"You're really going to help me walk all the way out to the woods, like, further than I've taken you before, just for a flower?"

"I packed your camera too," Gia nodded her head, "We'll take pictures of it so you can prove you've seen it. If we get a picture of you and the flower and send it to the newspaper, they might print it. That'll help your college resume, right?"

"Uh, only by a lot," Emma nodded her head and then hugged her friend, "You're the best."

"The best for the best," Gia said. When Emma was dressed they walked to the door and started on their mini adventure.


	10. Magnus Bloomus Annulus

Troy was on the soccer fields practicing his martial arts a bit before Jake and Noah arrived. They had promised to meet up so Jake could teach Noah and Troy a little soccer. It had come up in their video gaming marathon that Troy didn't know how to play. Jake had stated that he couldn't be friends with anyone who didn't at least know the basic rules of soccer and so offered to teach Troy.

It meant a lot to the red Ranger. In his past, if his _friends_ found out something about him that they didn't like, they usually shut him out – permanently. Troy lost a group of people who had almost become his friends because he didn't want to buy a Transformers lunch box because he didn't like the Transformers. He preferred the Ninja Turtles.

So Jake offering to teach him instead of just dump him was a change for him, and showed him that whatever friendship they had now was about more than just what they had in common – being a Power Ranger.

A soccer ball hitting him in the back of the head caught his attention, and he turned around to see Jake chuckling.

"Martial arts is a big no today," he said, "Today, we play soccer. Go get the ball."

"But you threw it at me," Troy rubbed the back of his head but he did as he was asked. He was closest to the ball. As soon as he reached down to pick it up with his hands, he heard a groan.

"No hands in soccer. If we used our hands, we would call it football… wait…"

"Wait for it," Noah chuckled as he and Troy could almost see the cogs in Jake's brain spinning overtime.

Jake just shook his head, dismissing his confusion, "Whatever, we'll save the history of sports for Noah later. Right now we play. Kick the ball back."

Noah walked over to join Troy's side of the field and then whispered, "I haven't explained to him what soccer's called overseas. It might break his heart."

Troy chuckled until he saw Jake was waiting impatiently for the ball. He looked to Noah who shrugged his shoulders and encouraged him to just kick, so he went for it. He put as much force into the kick as he could and lifted the ball from the ground and into the air. It soared right into Jake's chest and knocked him backwards on his ass. Noah was impressed.

"You've got to teach me that!"

Troy rushed over to Jake, helping him up, "Sorry… I guess we don't need to work on kicks…"

"Maybe aim," Jake coughed and clutched his ribs.

"Uh… sure…" Troy had been aiming for Jake, therefore he had hit his target, but he didn't want Jake to think that. He had no intention of hurting him.

"Alright," Jake coughed a couple more times before he picked up the ball with his hands, confusing Troy greatly. He walked to the center of the field and set the ball down. "Why don't we take shots on net? Noah…"

"No way," Noah backed off and held his hands in the air. Jake always asked him to be goalie and he always went home black and blue."

"C'mon," Jake pleaded, "You're the best goalie I… oh… crap."

"Off the field, Holling. We need to practice," the school soccer team came over with Mick in the lead. Jake, not wanting to be anywhere near them after what they had done to Gia grabbed his ball and gestured for Troy and Noah to follow him elsewhere.

"Maybe we'll practice soccer another time."

"You're teaching the sport?" Alex teased him. "Are you sure you're the best teacher? Do you even know which goal to score in?"

"Let's go," Jake ignored them and walked away with Noah and Troy. He could teach his friends elsewhere.

"Why don't you just quit the team?" Troy asked Jake once they were off the field. "It's obvious you're never going to like them again, and they might never stop teasing you…"

"Because that's what they want," Jake answered, "And after what they did to Gia, the last thing I'm going to do is let them have it. Coach still plays fair, and if I can cost the school a few more games and cost us the championship…"

"That's hardly what a team player would do," Troy said. He put his hands in his pockets and sighed, "Look, I get the irony of this coming from me, but those guys are your team and you should support them on the soccer field."

"After what they did…?"

"Troy's right, dude," Noah nodded his head, "You're post-secondary career depends on you getting a scholarship. If you play poorly this year, you'll never make the team next year. Then you'll actually have to study."

"I'm not saying you should be friends with them off the field," Troy said, "Hate them all you want, but you should play the game fairly. Be the bigger person."

"I'll think about it," Jake out the ball in Troy's hands, "Noah, how about we head back to your place? You've got a big enough backyard to play."

-Megaforce-

The hike through the woods wasn't easy, but Emma found it to be quite enjoyable, even with her cracked rib. Gia helped her out quite a bit and moved stones, branches, and even the occasional fallen log from the path so Emma would have an easier walk.

The closer they got to the flower, the more excited Emma became.

"You know, they say it's one of the most beautiful flowers in existence," Emma said, "And that's partially due to how rarely it blossoms. And how stubborn it can be," Emma looked over to Gia with a smile, "kind of like someone I know."

"I'm not a flower."

"It's just us out here, Gia."

"Fine, but don't go spreading that around," Gia shook her head and then looked curiously to Emma, "Wait... why am I like _this_ flower?"

Emma chuckled and then stopped in her tracks. Gia turned away from her best friend to see whatever it was that had caught Emma's attention. There, she spotted the rare flower they had been searching for… at least, Gia thought it was.

"Is that…"

"Magnus Bloomus Annulus," Emma nodded her head, "And it's in full bloom!"

"Fortunately," Gia smirked. "Or we'd have to make this trip again tomorrow."

"You have my camera, right?"

Gia set the bag down on the ground and began to search through it for Emma's camera while the pink Ranger admired the flower she had waited so long to find. Not many people got this opportunity. Some were usually just a day late, and when they returned the following year, something had happened to kill the flower, meaning it would never bloom again. Man's work to destroy forests for land to build meant these flowers were harder and hard to find, and given they looked like nothing more than tall weeds when they weren't in bloom, they were hard to protect. No one knew what they were destroying until after it was gone.

Gia found the camera and passed it to Emma so she could get a few pictures of the flower on its own. Then Gia held her hand out to take the camera back.

"So you can prove you found it."

"We found it," Emma pulled her friend closer to the flower and held the camera out to take a picture of the two of them with the flower. "I never would have made it out here without you. We both deserve credit."

"Yeah, but no pictures of me in the newspaper," Gia shook her head. "I don't want to give guys something else to drool on."

Emma simply smiled as she snapped a few pictures and then went over them to make sure they were good. She showed them to Gia.

"These look really nice. We should get them printed."

"Just for us," Gia nodded her head and took the camera back to place it in the bag. That was when she heard a beep. She dug out her morpher as Emma came to her side. "What is it, Gosei?"

"There's a new alien in the forest just outside of town."

Emma looked up at Gia, "Of course…"

"We'll take care of it," Gia assured Gosei. She grabbed the bag and was about to leave when she looked at Emma. No longer distracted by the rare flower, Emma had gone back to clutching her ribs. She was still in a lot of pain. "Are you sure you can…?"

"I'll be fine," Emma promised her. Gia grabbed her arm.

"You're already hurt."

"But I'm not letting you go into battle on your own. This isn't just Loogies; Gosei said there was an alien…"

"Alright… but… let me do the heavy lifting. Just watch my back."

-Megaforce-

Troy had gotten his soccer kicks under control and was now enjoying a fun game of soccer with his friends in Noah's backyard. The game wasn't too complicated as long as Troy remembered to keep his hands away from the ball. He and Noah had teamed up against Jake and were trying to score against him in a goal between the fence and the spot on the ground where Jake had set his sweater.

And just as Troy was about to score, he heard a beep. He, Noah, and Jake turned to Noah's family's patio set where they had set down their bags and their morphers. By the time they reached it, Gia had already answered, but they knew where the latest alien had turned up.

"Guess that's the game," Noah said. He and the boys grabbed their morphers, left everything else behind and raced across town to the woods. It was a far way to go and they could only hope they wouldn't be late.

When they did get there, they were surprised by what they saw. Gia and Emma were already engaged in a battle with the Loogies and were so close to victory the boys just kind of sat there to watch. More impressive than that, the girls were in perfect sync.

"You go girls!" Jake cried, pumping his fist in the air in encouragement as he and Troy watched. Noah, instead, looked further down into the forest where the big bad was watching the battle as well. Almost immediately Noah noticed something strange about this alien, and it had to do with the fact that unlike most of the other aliens the Rangers had already fought, this one didn't look like an insect.

"He's different," Noah's words fell on deaf ears. The alien disappeared, the girls finished their battle with the Loogies, and Jake and Troy immediately walked off to congratulate them on a job well done. Noah rolled his eyes and followed. He would look into it later.

"That was impressive, girls," Troy complimented them, "I don't think I've seen two people so connected in battle before."

Emma turned her attention to Gia and smiled happily at her best friend. She wrapped her arms around her and then winced slightly from the pain. "We've always got each other's backs."

Gia nodded her head before she pulled away and picked up the backpack. She had put it behind a tree for safe keeping during the battle.

"We'd love to stay and chat," she said as she looked to Emma, "But we've got some photos to print."


	11. Bitter Enemies

Gia wasn't sure why Emma couldn't get with the times as she waited outside one of the only remaining stores where they developed film. Emma had gone in by herself to get her photos developed and insisted it wouldn't be long. Gia waited outside for her while she leaned against a wall and checked out her nails. She loved saving the world, but it had given her another broken nail. She wasn't one to sulk over such minor details but now she would have to trim all her nails back so they were even, if not, it would drive her insane waiting for the one finger to catch up to all the others.

"I've got the pictures," Emma said in a sing-song tone as she came out of the shop with an envelope in her hand, "And they turned out amazing."

Gia reached to take the pictures when she felt something hit her back and for a moment she couldn't move. Emma felt the same thing as well and dropped the pictures to the ground. Then, just as quickly as the pain had come, it had disappeared. Gia found herself more focused on the pictures that had fallen to the floor than on trying to figure out what had hit her back.

"You need to be more careful," she said to Emma but her tone sounded accusatory, like she was frustrated that Emma would be so careless with her pictures. She hadn't intended on using that tone. It had slipped out of her mouth.

Emma snatched the pictures back with a slightly offended look on her face. She opened the envelope and looked to the first picture. It was one of her and Gia with the flower.

"I like it," she said and turned to Gia, "For _once_ you're not snarly."

Emma didn't know what had possessed her to speak that way to Gia, but she had and for some reason she felt no need to apologize for it.

Gia snatched the photo, "Well I hate it. It's going…"

Emma took the picture back in her hand, "No! You're always so snarly and depressive. Can't you just smile for once?"

"What if I don't want to smile," Gia took the picture back and ripped it up. "I've got nothing to smile about."

"Can't you just get over it," Emma rolled her eyes. "I don't know why I bother with you."

She took the rest of her pictures in her hand and was about to turn away and leave when hers and Gia's morphers beeped again. Fast to beat the other to the punch, both girls grabbed their morphers to answer first.

"What is it?" they both asked and then glared angrily at each other. Emma clenched her teeth tightly as she glared at Gia and felt a rage burning up inside of her. Just looking at the yellow Ranger made her angry. She couldn't understand how they had been friends for so long. Gia was so irritating and cold.

They got their instructions from Noah. He, Jake, and Troy had been walking through the city, trying to get back to Noah's place. When they walked by the soccer field, they spotted a swarm of Loogies and a bee looking alien attacking Jake's soccer team. Needless to say, the Rangers needed to be called into battle once more.

Gia took off running, "I'm coming, Noah."

Emma growled, tucked the pictures into her pocket, clutched her ribs and started to run after the yellow Ranger.

"Thanks for waiting," she called out sarcastically and couldn't believe she had ever been friend with someone so self-centered.

It was a race to the soccer field, which Gia won with ease given Emma had to take the run a little slower so as not to hurt herself too much _before_ the battle. But both girls made it at about the same time, and arrived just in time to see Troy getting hit by a blast from what looked to be a bee-inspired alien. He powered down and dropped to the ground, rolling around in pain before suddenly freezing up.

"Tiger Claw!" Gia shouted calling for her weapon as she placed the card in the mouth of her morpher. Emma was right behind her, having morphed quickly, and despised the fact that Gia was trying to steal the show. Everything was always about Gia. It was annoying.

"We need the Megaforce Blaster!" Emma told her as she held out her Phoenix shot and then tried to grab Gia's Tiger Claw.

"No way!" Gia shouted and pulled back on her weapon, "Emma our weapons don't fit together! Don't force it, you idiot!"

Emma froze for a moment. Inside her helmet she wore a look of pain and this time the source wasn't from her ribs. However, anger took over quickly. She let go of Gia and the Tiger Claw and decided to finish this battle herself.

She charged towards the alien and swung her Phoenix shot. Because she had been fighting with Gia, she didn't have a proper grasp on her weapon and instead of using it to blast at the alien; she swung it to hit her. It had very little effect, and the alien was quick. With stingers on her hand she jabbed and sliced at Emma until the pink Ranger fell down.

"EMMA!" Gia cried out as her friend fell and then raced over to help. The alien was ready to take a final swing at Emma when Gia jumped in the way, blocking the attack with her Tiger Claw and then covering Emma to keep her safe.

The alien then grabbed her by the neck and pulled her up and away from Emma, while at the same time she stomped her foot down on Emma's ribs. Neither girl could move so the alien took advantage.

"You two are bitter enemies and don't you forget it!" she shouted before tossing them both aside. Then, with a powerful kick she sent them flying through the air and into the soccer net. The girls got tangled up inside.

The alien approached the boys. They lay helpless on the ground as she stood over them, laughing.

"You three carry me to my hive!" she stood, as if waiting for the boys to comply. With what little range of motion and strength they had left, they looked up at her as though she was kidding.

Then, they found themselves up on their feet.

"What's going on?" Jake asked as he wrapped his arm around the alien and with Troy and Noah's help he lifted her off her feet gently.

"We can't stop ourselves!" Noah said. "It must be the poison!"

Gia and Emma worked to get themselves free from the net as the boys walked off with the alien on their shoulders. Fed up, Gia let out a cry.

"Stop messing things up, Emma. Let me do it!" she swat the pink Ranger's hand away and pulled the net to get herself and Emma freed.

"I know what I'm doing!" Emma shouted back and shoved Gia away. Their fighting only caused the net to tangle up even more, bringing them closer together.

"You never do anything right, Emma. Just stop!"

"I'm sorry I can't live up to your impossible standards, Miss Perfect!"

"I'm hardly perfect."

"Well, you sure act like it. You're stuck up, insensitive, and I don't know why I bother with you!"

-Megaforce-

Jordan was enjoying a nice day at the park. Since he had decided he wanted to be a police officer he knew he had to focus on his school work to get into a good school. He took the day to buckle down and find a nice relaxing spot to study. The park was his first choice.

He found a picnic table and set his bag down. As he pulled out his books he looked around. The park was always amazing this time of year, with the green spaces and all the beautiful trees and plants. He made a note to take Emma here on a date, sure she would love it.

But as he looked around, he noticed something odd about the soccer field. Not only was it unused, but there were two people tangled up inside the net. He raced over to help, surprised to see it was Gia and Emma.

And they were bickering, shouting mean words back and forth to each other. Jordan couldn't imagine what had gotten between them to cause this much anger.

"Girls! C'mon, this isn't like you," he told them as he untangled them both from the net. They got to their feet, looked to each other, and then turned their backs in a huff. Jordan sighed as he stood by Emma's side, "Alright, what happened?"

"We can't waste time," Gia turned back around, which prompted Emma to do the same. "I'm going to find the others."

"Not without me, you aren't!" Emma called. She tried to follow but Gia shook her head.

"No, you're not. You're hurt and you've already screwed this up. I'm going alone."

"What are you two talking about?" Jordan asked. He grabbed Emma's arm, pulling her in closer, "What's going on?"

"You can't go anywhere without me," Emma said to Gia, ignoring Jordan completely, "You'll never find them. We both know I'm the better tracker."

"Yeah, right," Gia rolled her eyes and continued to walk off, "Even if you could find them, you're in no position to help. Look at you, you can barely stand up right!"

Emma looked down at her ribs and sighed. When the alien had stomped on them, she was sure they were hurt worst. Still, no matter how angry she was with Gia, she couldn't let her run off to fight an alien alone. She wasn't sure what had happened to the boys, but she was sure, given they had carried the monster off, that they would be no help.

"I'm coming…"

"No you're not!" Gia screamed and pushed Emma into Jordan's arms, "You're staying here where it's safe! I'll do this myself."

Gia ran off before Emma could continue to protest. Once Jordan steadied her on her feet, Emma stomped her foot.

"She's not doing this alone!" she cried as she looked at Jordan, "How dare she think she can do this alone!"

"Emma… what's going on?" Jordan grabbed her arms and looked at her. "This isn't like you… is it?"

"Just stay out of it," Emma shook her head, "I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"Emma!" Jordan cried as she started to run off.

"This is between me and Gia!" Emma called back. Jordan groaned and rolled his eyes.

"What's gotten into them?"


	12. Friendship

Emma couldn't keep up with Gia and so she had to find her own path to wherever the boys had taken the alien. She had some knowledge of how to track people and animals from her years of photographing animals in their natural habit and used that to her advantage. She hoped she could get to the monster before Gia did – if anything, to prove she was right.

She found a spot that was hidden away from sight by trees, branches, and leaves. Very quietly, she ducked down and pushed the branches out of sight. A grin appeared on her face when she saw the alien, her friends, and a few other civilians.

"I was right," she whispered and stepped out of the bushes. The alien had snapped with the boys, ordering them around once more. Emma wouldn't stand for it.

"Stop!" she cried out. The alien, Beezara, turned when she heard a female voice. The boys turned as well, happy to see one of the girls had come to help them, but curious as to why she was all alone.

Emma morphed, knowing there was no way she would stand a chance against the alien without her Ranger suit, especially with her ribs still in pain. She jumped into action but when she landed, Beezara attacked the ground. Vines popped up from under Emma and wrapped themselves tightly around her chest, pinning her arms to her side and holding her completely still. As Emma struggled to get free and to breathe, Beezara approached her. A look in her eye told Emma this was where she wanted to end the fight, and Emma knew she was helpless to stop her.

"Stop!" she cried and sunk to her knees, too weak and in too much pain to stand. The boys tried to run forward but stopped as soon as Jake ran into what seemed to be a force field. They were trapped inside a shield, unable to help.

"EMMA!" Troy shouted and his heart jumped in his throat. This wasn't how his dream had played it out, but Troy wasn't sure how much he could trust his dreams. It was possible they meant that before the end of the great battle, he would lose all his friends. In which case, this would be exactly what his dreams had been trying to tell him.

"Pathetic," Beezara laughed. She lifted her stinger arm and just as she was about to strike she was kicked away by a yellow blur. She took a couple of hits as the yellow Ranger attacked, but eventually found an opening and sliced at the yellow Ranger, knocking her down.

"Gia! Get up!"

"Shut up!" Gia shouted to Emma as she pushed herself up to her feet, letting out a little cough, "Just focus on breathing!"

Emma looked over to Gia a little startled. She had been expecting a rude comeback. They were angry with each other.

Gia jumped up to her feet and pulled out the Land Brothers card from her belt. She snapped it into the mouth of her morpher and summed her Zords. They attacked Beezara, distracting her long enough so Gia could pull out her blaster. She grabbed the first head, the beetle, and snapped it on. Beezara tried to hit her with extended stinger beams, but Gia blasted them away. Unfortunately, the beetle wouldn't be enough, so she traded it for the rhino. She was positive it would have enough strength to not only stop Beezara's attacks, but also stop her.

Emma watched on, still struggling with the vines that kept her down. She had to break free and show Gia she was just as good. The rhino blast was enough to knock Beezara back and Emma watched Gia run into action. She was now fighting Beezara with hand to hand combat, which made Emma's stomach turn. She couldn't say why, but it did.

"Gia, break me free! I can help!"

"No!" Gia called back, momentarily taking her eyes off the fight to look at Emma, "You're too hurt! You're only going to slow me down!"

"GIA!"

"NO!" Gia turned around, "I'm not letting you get hurt! No matter how mad am I with you, I never want to see you hurt!"

Emma stopped struggling for a moment and smiled behind her helmet. It was true. They had fought before, especially as children, but no matter how much they did hate each other in the moment, they always took care of each other. They always put their differences aside when the other was in need. It was why they were best friends.

"Gia… GIA!" Emma cried loudly as a whip-like beam of energy shot out from the alien's hand and wrapped itself around Gia. The yellow Ranger was lifted high into the air, then smashed into the ground, only to be lifted again.

"C'mon, girls!" Jake cried, bouncing a little from anxiety as he watched what looked to be a helpless battle. "You're best friends!"

"Fight the monster, not each other!"

"Shut your mouths!" Beezara ordered them and the boys, still under her spell were forced to place their hands tightly over their mouths. They couldn't say another word.

Emma looked to the boys and then up at Gia. They were fighting, and Emma could feel a lot of anger burning inside of her… but she had no idea why. Nothing had come between them to start an argument. Nothing could come between them.

"_Emma, the power of friendship can break the spell,"_ it was a strange feeling as Gosei's voice rang in her head, but it was quickly rewarded. A faint pink glow shone from her chest as a card appeared. It cut through the vines keeping her trapped. Emma spread out her arms and smiled as she was freed. She glared angrily at Beezara, who was having a laugh throwing Gia around.

Emma grabbed the card from midair and placed it in her morpher's mouth to activate it. Three new Zords appeared so Emma grabbed the closest one. The first thing she would do was help her best friend.

"Crow Blast!" she shot at the energy whip that had a tight hold on Gia and the Crow cut the yellow Ranger free. Gia dropped to the ground and Emma ran towards her. She stood before her best friend, protecting her as she recovered.

She unclipped the Crow Zord from her blaster, grabbed the Hawk and pointed it at the alien. The blast was strong enough to not just not Beezara back, but shot her high up in the air before smashing her into the ground.

Beezara beat her fists in the ground in anger and used her powers to make more vines grow, hoping to catch the girls and defeat them for good.

When the vines burst up from the ground, Gia pointed her blaster, cutting them all down before they had a chance to grab her or Emma, and then pointed a final blast as Beezara. Emma knew it would take more than one hit and so she grabbed the last of her new Zords and fired with her best friend.

"Ptera Zord!"

"Dino Zord!"

When they fired, their energy came together and struck Beezara right in the chest. A powerful explosion took over the area, knocking the girls back into the trees but the force field Beezara had made to keep her slaves captive protected the boys.

Jake's watched as smoke clouded the battlefield. He prayed it was the monster's cries he was hearing, and no one of the girls. He wished desperately that there was something he could do to help. He quickly glanced to Noah and Troy who seemed equally worried.

The wind cleared away the smoke eventually and it revealed an empty battlefield. Beezara was gone, but the boys didn't see any sign of Gia or Emma.

Jake cried out from behind his hand, hoping the girls would hear him and answer.

Troy's stomach was doing flips as he thought back to his dream once more. He knew the girls had died, but he couldn't remember how. Noah had been shot and bled out, and Jake had taken a sword through the chest, but he hadn't seen Gia or Emma die on the battle field in the great war. To calm his upset stomach, he placed his hands over his abdomen and pressed lightly.

"EMMA!" he called out and then realized he was no longer forced to cover his mouth. He had full control of his body. He turned to Jake and Noah who were both still trying to call out for the girls with their hands clasped tightly over their mouths. "Guys, we're free."

Jake and Noah looked to him and then hesitantly tried to move their hands. Once they saw they were back in control of their bodies, they ran past where the shield had kept them captive to look for the girls.

"Gia!" Jake called. He jumped over a log and stumbled slightly when he hit the ground. He pushed himself up to quickly get back to his search when he heard giggles. He turned around to see Gia and Emma sitting by the log and watching him as they tried to hide their laughter. Jake got to his feet, waved the boys over and then he knelt beside the girls.

"Are you two okay?"

"For the most part," Gia answered and then looked to Emma, "She's having trouble breathing."

"Just a little bit," Emma said. "I'll be fine…"

"No, you won't," Gia shook her head and gestured for the boys to help Emma up. Troy and Noah gently lifted Emma. Jake pulled Gia up to her feet and brushed some of the leaves off her shoulder.

"What happened between you two?" he asked her as they followed Troy, Noah, and Emma back into the city.

Gia shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not sure. I got really mad at her for some reason."

"Yeah, we saw that," Jake wrapped his arm around Gia, "Let's just blame the alien. She made Troy, Noah, and me do some pretty… nasty stuff. We were under some weird mind control. Maybe she did that to you too."

"Maybe," Gia said and then sighed, "Still, I said some pretty mean things…"

"You were really impressive out there, though. If actions really do speak louder than words, I'm sure Emma's going to know you didn't really mean them."

"What do you mean?"

"You were protecting her that whole time."

"Of course. She's my best friend," Gia looked to Jake strangely. "She was hurt. I knew that if she fought, she would only hurt her ribs further. I couldn't let that happen."

"Yeah, and I smacked Noah with a fan, and I wasn't even angry with him. You and Emma are really close, huh?"

Gia nodded her head and suddenly pulled away from Jake. She raced over to Emma and gently took the pictures from her pocket.

"Can I borrow these?"

"Of course, but…"

"Take her to the hospital. I want to be sure there's nothing really wrong with her," Gia told the boys and then gave Emma a look that told her she was not to be argued with. "I'll meet up with you there, with a surprise. I promise."

"Gia, you don't need to do anything. Just take me home…"

"And risk letting your ribs get even worst? No way. At least go to a doctor. Promise me you'll go to the doctor's."

"Fine," Emma nodded her head, "I'll see you at home."

"Perfect," Gia smirked and then raced off with the pictures in hand.


	13. Newspaper Photo

Emma was on her couch, resting up after the last battle. Beezara had done a number on her and the other Rangers, but her ribs had taken the biggest hit. Not only had they been irritated by Emma's need to fight in battle, but they had been stomped on and constricted tightly. She had followed Gia's orders and had a doctor look at her ribs and determined that four of them were cracked. Her recovery time was looking to be close to six weeks, but Emma knew it could take longer. Cracks ribs, while painful, wouldn't keep her from being a Ranger and helping her friends defeat evil. She couldn't sit on the sidelines as they risked their lives.

"Where are the plates?" Jake called as he and the boys rummaged through the kitchen for something to eat. Emma groaned loudly. She wasn't used to having guests over who had no idea where everything was. She usually only let Gia into her home, and Gia had been over so many times, Emma sometimes asked her where she could find various things that had been left lying around.

"By the stove, to the right," Emma called out. Troy stepped into the living room with a glass of water and painkillers in his hand. They were for Emma.

"Doctor said these would help."

"Thanks."

Troy sat down as Emma swallowed the pills. He looked around the house, "So, your parents aren't home, huh?"

"They rarely are," Emma answered as she finished her glass of water. "Dad's got a busy job and mom says she doesn't like feeling cramped. I've got the place to myself most days."

"It must get lonely."

"Gia's here all the time," Emma shook her head, "Speaking of…"

"Nothing from her yet," Troy answered before Emma could ask. "She'll be here soon, I'm sure. She promised she would be."

"Yeah, I know… I just…"

"You can't always be joined at the hip, you know. I'm sure even best friends like you need space from each other once in a while."

Troy joked, but Emma wasn't kidding around. Though they had been fighting and it had distracted them, Emma still remembered where her original rib injury had come from. Cliff was in town and he was looking for Gia. Harwood was a big enough city, so chances were slim they would walk right into each other, but Emma couldn't keep herself from worrying, especially considering Gia was alone and had been for a while.

Troy spotted her serious expression and stopped kidding around. He took her hand gently, "You're really worried about her, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I… look, it's nothing…" Emma tried to brush it off, knowing Gia wouldn't want Emma to talk about her problems with Troy, especially when she had no idea there was a problem.

Troy gave Emma a little smile, "If you're sure. While we wait, the guys and I were thinking of watching a movie…"

"Yeah, sure," Emma nodded and pointed to the storage unit beneath the TV, "My dad's got a bunch you might like. Pick any one. I've seen them all."

Troy nodded and went to choose a movie just as Jake and Noah walked in with chips and popcorn. Emma knew what this meant. They were going to have a movie night.

Troy picked a movie everyone agreed with and popped it into the DVD player. He sat with Emma on the couch while Jake and Noah shared the loveseat.

Emma couldn't remember watching much of the movie. The pill Troy had given must have been stronger than what Gia normally gave her. She had fallen asleep and slept through the night. She looked up, seeing the sun peeking in through the windows and the boys had made their beds either on the loveseat, the recliner, or the floor.

But Gia wasn't home. She had promised to come home. Emma's heart started to race as she worried. She sat up and reached for her phone on the coffee table. Her heart stopped when she saw she had several missed calls.

She jumped to her feet, letting the thawed pack of ice fall to the floor and she realized she was wet. No one had taken the ice away from her once she had fallen asleep. She ran for the door, clutching her ribs tightly. Just as she was about to open it, it opened itself and almost hit her in the face. Emma stumbled backwards to get out of its way, and then jumped forwards into Gia's arms.

"You're okay!" she pulled away and looked to her best friend, "You are okay, right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…"

"It's just us, Gia. The guys are asleep. If something happened…"

"Nothing happened. What's wrong with you?" Gia chuckled and then hugged her friend comfortingly, "Didn't you get my message?"

"Your message?"

"You weren't answering your phone so I called Jake and he promised me he would…" Gia sighed when she saw Emma had no idea what she was talking about. "I was on my way over when I ran into my parents. They forced me to go home so I spent the night there. I tried to call you, but you didn't answer, so I called Jake and he said he would pass on the message. I guess he didn't."

"I've been sleeping," Emma said. Gia chuckled before she placed a package covered in wrapping paper in Emma's hands.

"Sorry I turned into a bit of a bitch yesterday. I don't know what came over me."

"It's fine. The same thing happened to me. I didn't mean all those mean things I said. It must have been the monster."

"Still, I felt really bad," Gia said, "So… here's a present. I hope you like it."

"I'm sure I will," Emma led the way back in the living room and took a seat on the couch. Gia turned on the light and woke up the boys. They groggily sat up, rubbing their eyes with their fists.

"What time is it?"

"Six. We've got a couple of hours before school starts… some of you might want to shower," Gia pinched her nose and pointed a look at Jake. He lifted his arms to smell.

"I've been fighting monsters."

"Your excuses don't make you stink less. Any of you. I'll make breakfast while you three wash up."

The boys lazily got to their feet and had a slow race up the stairs to find a shower while Gia walked to the kitchen.

Emma unwrapped her present and opened the box. At first, she was a little disappointed to see it was just the day's newspaper and she wondered what Gia was thinking. Then she recognized the picture on the front cover. She held the paper and walked to the kitchen. Gia was trying to come up with something to feed the rest of the Rangers.

"I seriously need to start getting you back on real bacon," Gia stared at the fake meat Emma kept in the fridge, "This just… isn't natural."

"You put our picture in the newspaper," Emma set the paper on the counter and sat on the bar stool. Gia turned around and nodded her head.

"All your pictures were amazing, as always. This one was the best of you. I gave it to the paper and they published it and your story. Now you've got something to put on your resume."

"But the picture has you in it," Emma pointed to Gia in the picture, "I thought you didn't want…"

"I'm feeling much better, Emma… and if yesterday showed me anything, it's that we've always got each other's backs. Guys can drool all they want. I'm going to try to not let that bother me as much."

"Maybe I'll see your smile bloom more often," Emma said with a smirk and then looked down at the picture again, "This one was my favourite picture, too."

"I know you well."

"I love pictures of you smiling," Emma nodded. "They remind me of when we were little. When we used to always have fun."

"We do always have fun."

"I just… I mean before… you know…. Everything was easier before he hurt you."

"Sorry about that…"

"You have nothing to apologize for."

"Yeah. I let him change me," Gia said. She set a plate down in front of Emma and smiled brightly, "I don't want to live in fear of every guy anymore."

"You don't have to."

"I know. I was thinking… baby steps."

"What does that mean?"

"We do movie nights with the guys. That way, we don't always have to hide away from other people to hang out together. It should take a little pressure off you. Especially now that you and Jordan seem to be really hitting it off. If I can trust the guys everything will feel a little easier again."

"Sounds good," Emma smiled. Gia sat down next to her with her plate and were soon joined by Jake. He grabbed one of the plates from the counter and sat next to Gia.

At first there was nothing strange. He was wearing the same clothes as the day before because he didn't have a change, but fortunately they didn't smell too bad. Especially with the new scent he had picked up in the shower. Gia looked to Emma. Even a couple seats down, the pink Ranger could smell it too.

Gia leaned in for the sniff, earning herself a very confused look from Jake.

"You smell like strawberries. You used Emma's shampoo, didn't you?"

"There was nothing else!"

"My dad's got his own shampoo. You didn't see any?"

"You showered in Emma's bathroom, didn't you?" Gia chuckled and ruffled Jake's hair. "Did you shave your legs too."

"Ew," Emma stuck out her tongue at the thought of Jake using her razor. Jake glared at Gia.

"No," he shoved a strip of bacon in his mouth and chewed on it. His expression soured slightly with every bite before he spit it out, "That's not bacon."

"I'm going grocery shopping after school," Gia said and turned to Emma, "If your house is going to be the Ranger home, we need real bacon."

"Seconded," Jake lifted his hand. With his other hand, he jabbed the breakfast sausage with his fork and stuffed it all in his mouth. He then spit it out like he did the bacon, "Nothing on this plate is real!"

"Welcome to my life," Gia sighed.

Emma rolled her eyes, "When you guys die early, I won't be crying, I'll be laughing."


	14. A Lie

It had been a couple of years since he had walked these halls, but he remembered every step like he had never left. The students looked different. He recognized about half of them and was fascinated by how in only a couple of years they had changed. They were more grown up.

The other half was young students. They looked like they had only just left their diapers behind for the cold, cruel world of high school. At least, it would be for many. Only some of them would come out on top.

He got a visitor's pass from the office. With the pass around his neck, he could roam anywhere he pleased. It was easy enough to get. He had chatted up the secretary. She remembered him. He claimed to be back to talk to some of his teachers – to thank them for helping him get to where he was.

He was really here to see if she was still around. If he was right, she was a junior. If she was still in Harwood County, she would be here.

-Megaforce-

Gia rolled her eyes. Why couldn't Mr. Burley see this coming? Noah and Emma, anytime they were in a class together, would always start a debate about which was better: technology or nature.

Neither ever won. The bell always interrupted them before they could come up with an argument to trump the other.

Science class was the place where most arguments occurred. Given Mr. Burley's questions at the start of class, he basically fueled the debate every morning. Then they would reoccur at random moments throughout the day. It was great for wasting time in class, but Gia did wish she could hear a proper lesson without it being condensed into the thirty seconds Mr. Burley had to speak after the bell rang signalling the end of class.

So she leaned over and whispered to Emma, "Just let Noah win this one."

"Technology is the reason nature's suffering. If we could just leave Earth well enough alone, we would all be fine."

"You're both just as bad as each other," Gia flipped her textbook to the next page and carried on with her studying by herself. The bell rang and Mr. Burley could barely make himself heard over the sound of students packing up to leave. Gia took Emma's books and refused to let the pink Ranger carry them herself.

"I'm fine, Gia."

"I'll take the books back to my locker. You can walk to class. I'll catch up to you, okay?"

"Fine. But don't be late!"

"When am I ever late?" Gia teased.

-Megaforce-

He had time. Classes were seventy five minutes each, just like they had been before, so he went down the street to grab a coffee and read the newspaper. The front cover photo proved what he already knew. She was in town. The picture was recent. He knew because she looked a little different; a little older. She was still very striking.

He returned back to the school just in time for classes to let out and he had five minutes to watch her. He was surprised when he saw her alone. Of course, the halls were full of students, but her friend was nowhere near.

He approached her and leaned against the lockers, hiding his face behind her open door.

"Miss me, babe?"

"Look, I'm going to say this as nicely as I can," Gia grabbed her books and slammed her locker shut, "You don't stand a chance with…"

The books fell out of her hands as she stared up at Cliff. He hadn't changed at all since she had last seen him. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged casually.

"I was thinking lunch. You can tell your friend whatever…"

"No," Gia shook her head and tried to leave but he grabbed her arm and squeezed tightly. Gia whimpered. "Fine…"

"I'll pick you up. Don't be late," he pulled Gia in a little closer and leaned in for a kiss. Gia turned away from him. He kissed her cheek then let her go and walked off down the hall like nothing had happened.

Gia knelt down and slowly started to collect her books, trying to hold in her tears. A hand reached out and picked up one of her books for her. When she looked to see who was helping, she saw Alex.

"Well, if you like a little force…"

Gia tried to snatch her book back but Alex pulled it away and grabbed her wrist. He tried to pull her in close but Gia let out a cry.

"Hey, hey, whoa!" Noah said as he raced over from behind Alex. He grabbed Gia's book and the soccer player got back to his feet. He looked down at Noah.

"This is private."

The bell rang and all students in the hall were officially late for class. Alex couldn't afford another note home so he had to leave and hope his teacher would be forgiving.

"You got lucky, nerd."

Noah rolled his eyes before handing the book over to Gia. She took it and Noah saw her hand was shaking.

"Are you okay?"

"Tell anyone what you saw and I'll rip your throat out," Gia growled at him. "Walk me to class."

"Uh…"

"Noah, please."

"Oh… okay… do you want to talk about all that?"

Gia shook her head and turned the corner. She stepped into the French class and was followed by Noah. He watched her take her usual seat beside Emma. Jake and Troy were behind the girls. When Noah sat down he heard something very unusual.

"My dad stopped by," it was a lie from Gia's mouth to Emma's ear. "He and mom are taking me out to lunch today."

"Really? Would they mind if I…"

"No."

"I'll pay my own way…"

"It's the steak house."

"Oh. Well, have fun."

"Yeah…"

Noah leaned over and whispered to Jake and Troy, "We defeat the monster and whatever spell they did breaks, right?"

"That's how it works," Troy nodded. "At least, that's what I've seen in my dreams."

Noah bit his lip nervously. Something was wrong. He leaned forward, "Gia…"

"Trachea, Noah. It's called the trachea."

Noah leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. Something was very wrong.


	15. The Lunch Date

Noah liked his trachea where it was, but sometimes breathing needed to take a back seat. For the first time since meeting Gia, he couldn't take his eyes off her. He wasn't like the others. His staring wasn't out of romantic interest. He was watching her because he had a reason to be concerned. She had lied to Emma.

Unless her father was only a couple of years older than she was. Noah had seen the guy she had been talking to in the hallway and he knew it hadn't been a friendly conversation.

So he watched her. He tried to figure her out. She was nervous all day from second period to lunch. She tapped her pencil on her desk, which she had never done, and in their third period pop quiz, she took all seventy-five minutes and handed in her paper with the rest of the class.

Half complete, and from what Noah had seen when he placed his paper on top of hers, all wrong.

But she had been a little honest. She was leaving campus for lunch. Noah saw her walking with the same guy who had caught her in the hallway. He went after her and pushed his way between Gia and the guy.

"Gia, I forgot my lunch money at home," he looked to her, "Think I can tag along? I'll pay you back, I promise."

"Go ask Jake…" Gia whispered. The older boy grabbed Noah's shirt and pulled him away. He pushed him off the path.

"You're kind of third wheel, dork," he said. "Can't you see we're on a date?"

Noah looked curiously to Gia, "But you don't date."

"Only Cliff," Gia whispered and looked down at her feet, "I only date Cliff."

"Leave us alone, four-eyes," Cliff tried to shove Noah away again and the blue Ranger stumbled back. As he fell on his ass, Cliff grabbed Gia's arm and pulled her roughly towards the parking lot. Gia let out a whimper, which Noah had never heard her do. He decided for once in his life he would take the risk. He jumped to his feet and roughly grabbed Cliff's arm. He tried to pull the older boy away from Gia and then surprised even himself when he punched him in the jaw.

Noah had no idea what he had gotten himself into. Cliff returned the favour and smashed his fist into the side of Noah's face. The Blue Ranger fell to the ground and Cliff jumped on top of him. Noah had no way to protect himself against the beating he received from Cliff. The older boy was bigger and stronger, and Noah was still getting used to being a Ranger. He didn't think he could take on someone almost twice his size without his powers.

"Cliff, stop it!" Gia screamed and grabbed his arm. She pulled him away. Cliff got up, gave Noah a kick for good measure and then pushed Gia towards a car. She stumbled into the door and then looked over at Cliff. This was his car. He wanted her to get in. When she hesitated, he grabbed the back of her neck and opened the door for her.

"Let's go, babe."

Gia shook her head and decided she wouldn't go with Cliff today. He tried to push her into the car but she wouldn't move. Instead, she turned the tables. She pulled her elbow back, smashing it into his ribs. As Cliff doubled over in pain he let go of her neck. Gia pushed him into the car and then ran back to Noah.

At that very moment the vice-principal of the school came out and she didn't look impressed at all. In his car, Cliff recognized her and decided the school wasn't the best place to hang out anymore. He climbed into the driver's seat and drove off.

"Miss Moran, Mr. Carver what is going on here?"

Gia knew what it looked like. The vice-principal had only just stepped out. As far as she was concerned there was no Cliff. And even if she mentioned his name, Cliff had been a star athlete and a star student. He was fondly remembered by most of the upperclassmen as well as the teachers and the rest of the staff. No one would have believed he had been involved in any of this.

"He deserved it," Gia said, taking credit for Noah's beating. The school had a zero tolerance for violence and if she said she beat up Noah, they were sure to suspend her, which would get her out of school for several days, maybe as long as a month. Her story was believable too. While she had never taken things too far, she hadn't been the model student when it came to behaviour. Sometimes, a guy needed a swift kick in the ass before he left her alone. It had already earned her a couple of detentions and a note home. None of which Gia had ever shown her parents. She had forged their signature – not wanting them to know there was something wrong with their perfect daughter.

"I thought this streak has ended," Ms. Chesterfield looked down at Noah, who had discovered his nose was bleeding heavily. "Mr. Carver go to the nurse's office. She'll have a look at that. Miss Moran, come with me."

Gia followed Ms. Chesterfield into the school and then to her office. She took a seat in front of the desk. Ms. Chesterfield sat down across from her and leaned forward.

"It is the first time you've taken things this far, Miss Moran. Care to explain yourself?"

"No. Just suspend me and get this over with."

"First, I would like to know why you did it. What did he do to you? I've been hearing from some students that you and Mr. Carver have been spending more time together."

"He's been bothering me. He wouldn't leave me alone. I'd do it again. Can we just…"

"You're one of our best students, Miss. Moran. Suspending you is the last thing I want to do. Your grades are going to suffer terribly. I'd hate to put your future at risk for this incident."

"Are you serious?"

"I'm not blind, Miss Moran. I see the looks the boys give you. It gets annoying, doesn't it?"

Gia rolled her eyes and leaned back into her seat, "Just give me the suspension, please…"

"I'm taking a different approach this time, Miss. Moran. The school board has a specialist and I would like for her to follow you around."

"Are you kidding me? A babysitter? I don't need a babysitter."

"Miss. Moran, I've seen what goes in in this school. Maybe having a trusted confidant will help bring you out of your shell. You have so much potential. It's a shame…"

"I have my best friend. I don't need anyone else…"

"You don't have a choice. Tomorrow morning, report to my office first thing. I will introduce you to…"

"My babysitter? Can't I just get…"

"Enough. Go to class. I'll see you tomorrow."

Gia groaned as she got up from her chair and walked out of the office. That certainly didn't go as planned.


	16. The After School Fight

Jake had been called down from his final class of the day to the nurse's office and he was visibly worried as he knocked on her door. Gia had come back after lunch looking relatively disgruntled and shaken and Noah had skipped class. It wasn't like the blue Ranger to skip out on anything academic, so Jake was sure that whatever happened had been troublesome.

The nurse answered the door and then stepped out. The room was dark, but Jake could still see Noah resting on a bed. He went to his best friend's side and touched his shoulder.

"You okay?"

Noah rolled over and sat up in the bed. He was a bit groggy. He had spent the afternoon napping and so it would take a while before he was wide awake again. Jake, sympathetic to his best friend, helped him up to his feet and kept the lights turned off. He knew how much it would hurt to turn them back on. As he helped Noah up, he got a look at his best friend. He was surprised to see, even in the dark, that Noah's face was swollen and there were darker patches around his left eye, his cheek, and his jaw.

"Who did this?" Jake asked and he could feel himself tensing up. "I thought this stopped after middle school…"

"No one, don't worry about it," Noah wanted to talk to Gia before anyone else, knowing how conservative she could be. He didn't want to say something and then regret it when Gia came hunting him down for spreading lies. He had his theories, but he was smart enough to know that it was best to keep his mouth shut until they were proven true.

"Dude, you can't protect them like this…"

"I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time," Noah shrugged his shoulders. "It's not going to happen again."

"I'll make sure of that," Jake walked side by side with Noah down the hall and then to his locker to collect his things. As he packed up all of Noah's books in his bags, Troy came over.

"It's not true, is it?" he asked Noah and then hissed when he saw the blue Ranger's face, "The whole school's spreading rumours. Gia…"

"No she didn't," Noah shook his head. "She's just… Look, it's complicated."

"Some kids saw you and her getting caught by Ms. Chesterfield," Troy said, "That's not the full story, right?"

"Gia?" Jake asked. He put Noah's bag on his shoulder and then looked to the blue Ranger, "What were you doing with Gia?"

"I just… can I just talk to her myself first?" Noah asked. "Look, you guys, it's complicated."

"Noah, don't lie to me, dude," Jake placed his hand on Noah's shoulder, "Alright, yeah, my major crush on her distracts me sometimes, but if she hurt you, I'm taking your side all the way. But… uh, why did she hurt you."

"She didn't… Look, I stuck my nose where it didn't belong. Can we just…"

"So she did? She snapped at you?"

"It's nothing, guys…"

"Yeah right," Jake passed Noah's bag over to Troy before he stormed off down the hall. He found Gia closing up her locker and shoved her, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Jake!" Noah and Troy rushed down the hall, with Noah trying again to break up a fight. This time, though, he was sure not to leave with any more bruises. Gia hadn't laid a hand on him, and Jake never would (except while under Beezara's spell, of course).

Gia looked to Jake, confused by his hostility and then she spotted Noah, saw what had come of his face from the beating he took for her and put two and two together. She shrugged and pushed Jake away. "Just drop it, okay. It happened, get over it."

"Get over it?" Jake asked, "Look what you did? What's Noah ever done to you?"

"I've got to go…"

"No," Jake grabbed Gia's wrist to hold her back. She didn't know what came over her, but she spun around, shoved him into the locker and put her hand on his throat.

"Let go."

Jake released Gia's hand and she let him go. She picked up her bag from the floor and walked off. All eyes were on her as she left, especially the eyes of Ms. Chesterfield.

"Now?" she growled as she looked to the vice-principal.

"See you tomorrow in my office, Miss Moran. Don't be late. You're very fortunate Mrs. Smith could make it down on such short notice."

Gia stormed out of the school, leaving behind a very confused and somewhat troubled crowd. At that very moment, Emma and Jordan turned the corner, both laughing about something Jordan had said. They approached the boys, all smiles, until they saw Noah's face.

"What happened?" Emma let go of Jordan's hand to check out Noah's face for herself. He winced as she touched it and she pulled back, "Painful, huh? No wonder you missed last period."

"C'mon, Noah, I'll buy you a smoothie at Ernie's," Jake gently grabbed his best friend's arm and pulled him away. Noah looked sympathetically to Emma as he was dragged off. Emma turned to Troy, knowing something was wrong.

"What happened?"

Troy shrugged his shoulders, "I couldn't explain it if I tried, but I think it would be best if you talked to Gia."

"I… but…" Emma turned her gaze to Jordan for a moment, "We were going out tonight."

"Just… talk to her soon."

"We'll stop by her place," Jordan insisted. He wrapped his arms comfortingly around Emma's shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze, "Just check up on her."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. You're going to spend the night worrying about her if we don't. I don't mind, really."

"Thanks," Emma smiled and then turned to Troy, "Is there anything I need to know?"

"Like I said, I couldn't explain it if I tried. I'm going to Ernie's with the guys, but that doesn't mean I'm taking sides. I just want to make sure Noah's okay."

"Uh, okay," Emma said. Troy shifted his bag higher on his shoulder and then walked off. Emma looked to Jordan nervously. "I think we missed something."


	17. Mrs Smith

It was well before school hours, but Emma was already in the hallways and sitting in front of Gia's locker. The night before she had stopped by her best friend's house to talk, but had been turned away before she even got the chance to see Gia's face. Apparently, the yellow Ranger wanted to talk to no one.

It worried Emma to no end. Normally she was no one. Normally, when Gia wanted to be alone, she would always be alone with her. Something was very wrong, and Emma desperately wanted to know what.

Footsteps echoed down the empty halls and Emma looked up. She had texted Gia all night long begging her to get to school early so they could talk, but she hadn't received a single reply. That didn't mean Gia hadn't read them. Emma was hoping her best friend was ready to talk.

Instead it was only Jordan. He walked over and took a seat beside Emma on the floor. He pulled her into his arms.

"Your ribs must be hurting."

"She's never done this before," Emma knew her voice sounded like she had been crying, and it was almost true. She would have been, but she stopped the tears from coming, not wanting to be seen crying by anyone.

"Even the very best of friends need some time apart sometimes. Maybe Gia just needed a night to herself. We were on a date last night. If that's the case, it's nice enough for her to plan around that."

"I don't know…"

"I know I'm kind of the new guy here, but Gia really cares about you, Emma. I'm sure it's nothing you've done, and when she's ready, she'll talk to you about whatever is bothering her."

Jordan gave Emma a loving squeeze before they heard another set of footsteps down the hall. Emma looked up, praying it was Gia but instead found herself staring at Ms. Chesterfield and another woman Emma didn't recognize.

"Normally we don't tolerate violence," Ms. Chesterfield said and her voice carried down the hall, "Even the principal is telling me I should have suspended her, but Miss Moran is one of our best students, and this behaviour, to this extreme, is very unusual for her."

"What do you mean, to this extreme?"

"You've worked with teenagers before," Ms. Chesterfield said, "This is the stage where many of them have trouble… keeping it in their pants. We do our best to create a safe environment for our students to express themselves, but there are some cases that just can't be helped."

"So, I'm working with the school… slut?"

"Not at all. Miss Moran is very well restrained. The boys, however, are not."

"Hormones… great."

"Recently, she's snapped. Just yesterday I caught her on school grounds after having beaten up another one of our students. It's very strange behaviour, as I've been hearing and seeing that Miss Moran and Mr. Carver have been spending more time together than usual."

"So the girl's got the violent streak? Look, can't you just tell me what I'm here for?"

"I need you to keep an eye on Miss Moran. Try to get her to open up to you. Be her friend, and if there's anything that the school or her parents need to know, you share that information with us."

"So, I'm her confidant? Have you tried talking to her best friend? All girls have…"

"This is the strategy I'm going with. Miss Moran and Miss Goodall are much too loyal. I'm afraid it would be useless to try and squeeze out anything from either of them."

Finally, Ms. Chesterfield and the stranger walked into the office. Down the hall, Emma turned to Jordan. Her eyes were wide. She couldn't believe what she had heard.

Jordan couldn't either, "Gia did that to Noah's face?"

"That can't be true," Emma shook her head, "Gia… I mean, she can get a little scary when the guys push her buttons, but she would never hurt anyone like that. Least of all Noah! He's never done anything to her!"

"That's just one side of the story," Jordan assured her. "When Gia comes to school, we can talk to her."

"Before that stupid bitch the school's hired can," Emma nodded her head. "What makes Chesterfield think that Gia's going to talk to anyone? Especially someone she's just met."

"It helps, sometimes," Jordan shrugged his shoulders. "I hate to say it, Emma, but maybe you're too much of a friend to help her with whatever caused her to snap."

"But… but…"

"That doesn't make you a bad friend," Jordan hugged Emma comfortingly, "I'm sure everything's going to be okay."

-Megaforce-

Jake and Troy walked with Noah to school. After hearing what had happened to his best friend the day before, Jake had sworn not to let Noah out of his sights, especially around Gia. He still couldn't believe what he had heard, and a part of him doubted the story was true. However, he couldn't take any chances. Gia had practically admitted to having beaten Noah up, and the blue Ranger seemed to be hiding something. Jake knew Noah enough to know he was hiding something big. He also knew Noah well enough to know that the blue Ranger would never want to get his friend in trouble, and he did consider Gia to be a friend. Being Rangers had brought the five of them closer together.

Jake couldn't believe Gia would betray that friendship. Noah had never given her or anyone a reason to act out against him. He was a good kid, and a good friend, who never tried to cause anyone any trouble.

Noah looked to his shoes. He couldn't understand what was going on himself. Gia hadn't beaten him up. He knew that, and Gia knew that. The whole school thought otherwise, and Gia was feeding into that rumour. Noah was the only one arguing in Gia's defense, but with so many voices against him, it was a losing battle. Especially when his attacker readily accepted the blame.

But Gia hadn't touched him. She had tried to protect him, even if it had taken a minute. The boy, Cliff, he had been the one to cause all this trouble. Noah couldn't understand why Gia was covering for him. He thought, maybe, he had something over Gia. It could be the reason Gia was always so closed off. Maybe, she had a secret no one but Cliff knew.

That would mean Emma didn't know about it either. Noah needed to talk to Gia privately. He needed to see what was going on with her before he really started to argue against her and the school about the cause of his bruises. He didn't want the truth to unintentionally hurt Gia even more than it already was.

"Can you at least cut her some slack," Noah asked Jake.

"Won't have to," Jake shook his head, "We're not going near her. Not unless another alien turns up. Even then, she's sticking with Emma. I'm not letting her get near you when she's carrying Ranger weapons…"

"Jake…"

"I'm serious, dude, it's you first. You're my best friend. No girl comes between us."

Noah sighed and the three boys walked into the school. Troy walked off by himself to his locker and Noah led Jake over to his. They grabbed all they would need for their first period and walked to class. Noah knew Jake wasn't going to let him out of his sight. That would make talking to Gia next to impossible.

-Megaforce-

Gia's parents weren't easily fooled. She had forged their signature on the note Ms. Chesterfield had asked her to get them to sign, and deleted the message Ms. Chesterfield left on the answering machine. She didn't want her parents to know what was happening. They didn't need to know and they couldn't help her even if they did. Their trying would only mess everything up.

However, their ignorance meant they weren't easily fooled when Gia pretended to be sick. Her parents had always been tough on her about her attendance. School had been important in her family, and unless she truly was sick, she would go. No simple cough would stop her. That meant any time Gia claimed to be sick the thermometer came out. Though Gia hoped, this time wasn't the exception. Her parents were convinced she was lying and sent her on her way.

Gia had no choice but to meet up with Ms. Chesterfield and Mrs. Smith in the office, first thing. She sat down in the chair, next to who she could only assume was Mrs. Smith.

"I've already talked to Mrs. Smith, and shared with her everything I believe she needs to know," Ms. Chesterfield started as she looked at Gia, "She will be following you around…"

"Creepy. For how long."

"However long she deems is necessary. She'll go to class with you, and work on assignments after school with you. A part of this exercise…"

"Torture."

"Is after school detention."

"Seriously?"

"Off to class, now, Miss Moran. Mrs. Smith, thank you so much for coming."

Gia rolled her eyes as she got up and walked out of the office. She knew she was being followed and hated it already. She turned around and looked up at the slightly taller woman.

"Try all you want, I don't crack."

"You snap, I hear. I'm Serena."

"Whatever," Gia brushed her off but Serena wouldn't let her go that easily. She reached out and grabbed Gia's wrist. Fortunately, her reflexes were sharp enough to avoid being slammed into the wall.

"Alright, I'm all for you taking out whatever aggression you have out on me, but can you hold back on the physical violence? Junior doesn't approve," Serena pointed down to her stomach and Gia could see a baby bump. She rolled her eyes and tried to walk away again. Serena tried to grab her one more time and caught her arm.

Gia's instincts were the same as last time. Serena looked on worriedly.

"Whatever it is, I'm here to help."

"Just drop it," Gia growled. She walked down the hall and noticed Emma and Jordan sitting by her locker. She didn't feel like talking to them or even just Emma today. She didn't even want to be at the school.

Cliff knew she was at school. At any minute he could come for her. No one knew.

"Gia!" Emma stood up and tried to meet her best friend halfway, but Gia turned away. She walked the other way.

"Gia," Serena chased after Gia, grabbed her arm, and for a third time Gia spun around and tried to shove her. There was definitely a pattern.

"Leave me alone!" Gia screamed and she lunged for Serena a fourth time as the older woman grabbed her wrists to restrain her.

Emma ran over and quickly pulled Serena away, "She doesn't like that! Stop it!"

Serena let Gia go and watched her run away. She turned to the girl who had come over, "Best friend?"

"Emma. You're her, aren't you? You're the one Chesterfield hired to follow her around."

"Serena. We can talk later. You stay here. I'll go after her."

"No, she's…"

"Stay here, kid," Serena insisted. Before Emma could argue, she ran off.

"Five minutes on the job," Serena muttered to herself, "And I already lose the kid. Why do schools keep hiring me?"


	18. Talks And Truth

_Author's Note: Just a warning, I rate my longer fanfics __**M**__ because they sometimes deal with __**mature themes**__ or imply mature themes. __**The next four chapters imply a mature theme**__._

_Fanfics rated __**M **__are for readers 16+. I know I can't stop younger readers, so I warn you to know your own limits._

Leaving school generally wasn't the smartest idea, but Gia couldn't think of anywhere worse to be. The first time she and Cliff had met, he had never taken her home and so he had no idea where she lived. All he knew about where to find her was at the school and at Ernie's. If she was in either of those two places, he could find her at any time and she would have to relive his hell all over again.

The worst part about it was that she had no control. When she was around Cliff all her confidence and strength drained from her body. He took charge of everything. He told her what to do, how to act, and sometimes even what to say. Gia was just his toy. She never wanted to go back to that.

So she fled the school. It wasn't safe. She knew being out in the city meant there was a chance she would run into Cliff, but the chances were slimmer than if she stayed exactly where he could find her. She took the risk and bolted, leaving her classes, her team, her best friend, and especially her in-school babysitter behind.

At least, she thought she did. She walked into a diner, certain she could hide out in there for the better part of the morning. Just as she sat down in a booth, someone sat across from her. She jumped slightly, obviously startled.

"Sorry. It's just a huge legal problem when an underage student leaves school grounds without permission during school hours. I can't let you go."

Gia looked at Serena before dropping her head on the table and groaning loudly. At least it wasn't Cliff.

"Pancakes, please," Serena said and Gia turned her head slightly to the side and saw a waitress standing at the end of the table. Serena was placing an order. They were obviously going to stay. "You like pancakes, Gia?"

"Whatever."

"Two, please," Serena left the order with the waitress and then gently tapped Gia's shoulder, "Look, we got off on the wrong foot. I'm not here to punish you or anything like that."

"I'd rather be suspended."

"How about, today we don't even talk about why you beat up your friend. How about today we just talk about ourselves. I can start."

"If you haven't noticed, I don't care about you. I'm not talking to you or to anyone."

"I'm Serena. I grew up in a very small town. My father was a farmer and my mother… well; we don't need to talk about her career. Now you."

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"Gia. Right here. Dad and mom work. There, happy?"

"It's a start," Serena nodded her head. "I've got a little sister. Love her to death. You?"

"No siblings… well… No."

"C'mon, we're here to talk. No biological siblings, alright, well what about extended family? You wouldn't believe how many friends I've adopted into my family. Anyone like that for you?"

"Emma."

"Best friend?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Is everything okay between you and her?" Serena asked, "Best friends falling out can be pretty upsetting."

"We're fine."

"You ran from her pretty quickly back there. Are you sure?"

"Just shut up, please," Gia reached for the salt shaker and fiddled with it in her hands. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Boyfriends?"

"No."

"Ms. Chesterfield tells me there's a story there. The boys at school are driving you crazy? You know, it's just a stage, right. And most of them mean… well," Serena trailed off when she saw Gia's eyes were starting to water. She let out a sympathetic smile, "It is a boy, isn't it? He's the only one who doesn't notice you."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Gia, please."

"Don't… I don't want to talk about it! I said no!" Gia smashed her fists into the table before getting up and storming out of the diner. Serena sighed loudly again, put some money on the table and took off after her.

-Megaforce-

Jordan had a heavy heart as he watched Emma pick at her food with her fork. Gia hadn't shown up to any of the morning classes, leaving Emma in a state of panic and deeply upset. Jake knew she hadn't been paying attention at all in any of her classes because he had heard from other students that Mr. Burley had just announced that one day this week the class would be dissecting frogs and pig fetuses.

Emma had a deep love of nature. Everyone in school knew that. After dating her for a couple of weeks, Jordan knew just how deep that love ran. She was a vegetarian because she hated the thought of animals being raised solely for slaughter. She volunteered around the city to help businesses manage their waste and encouraged them to consider recycling. She was always pushes for the school to be a little greener, and had, on several occasions, scolded teachers not just for not printing worksheets on both sides of the paper, but for printing out papers in general. Most students had laptops, and though technology wasn't her strong suit, if it meant saving trees and keeping forests and habitats for plants and animals alive, she was all for laptops and tablets in classrooms.

"Em…"

"She… she never skips class. She always talks to me. Why… why would she run? Why don't I know a damn thing?"

"She'll talk to you, Emma. Just give her a little space. Maybe she's still figuring things out for herself."

"I normally help her with this stuff. I…"

Jordan made his way over to her side of the table and took her in his arms, "It's going to be okay."

On the other side of the cafeteria, Noah looked on sadly as he too picked at his meal. Jake and Troy were discussing Jake's upcoming soccer match and what Jake was going to do about it. He had no respect for Mick and Alex, and his team was still giving him the cold shoulder and taunting him for his _accidental goal._ Troy insisted he be honourable, and play with as much sportsmanship and passion as he had in games before. Troy believed Jake would be hurting everyone, himself included, if he intentionally cost the team the game. Once was enough to make a point. Twice was mean.

Jake still believed in throwing it, costing the team the win, throwing away their chance to win the championship and putting Mick's and Alex's careers at risk, but he was leaning a little more towards Troy's arguments as they conversation progressed.

Noah wasn't listening much; enough to know when to nod his head, but not enough to chip in.

Finally, he decided enough was enough. Even from a distance he could see just how badly Emma was hurting. He put himself in her shoes. If Jake changed overnight for the worst, and wouldn't open himself up to him, even going as far as intentionally leaving Noah out of his problems and avoiding him, Noah would be devastated. He still didn't want to do this, but he got up from his seat and decided he would talk to Emma about what had really happened.

Jake and Troy followed him. Jake was still very protective, even though it seemed Gia wasn't in the school.

Noah took a seat across from Emma and reached out to take her hand. She looked up at him and immediately there was an apologetic expression on her face.

"I'm so sorry, Noah. I have no idea what came over her. She didn't mean it, I'm sure she didn't."

Her face and eyes were puffy and red. Noah couldn't stand to see her hurting over a lie. He let out a deep breath and nodded.

"I believe you… because it's not true."

"She wouldn't hurt you, I swear. She's just…"

"I meant what happened. It's not true."

"Noah, you don't have to cover for Gia," Jake groaned as he repeated himself for the umpteenth time. "We're big kids. If she's…"

"Someone else did this. She didn't lay a hand on me. I don't know why she took the fall. I was going to talk to her about it, but I can't let this go on."

"Someone else did this?" Jordan asked and he could feel Emma tensing up. He wasn't sure this news was any better.

Emma forced herself to ask, "Who?"

"Dunno. Cliff, I think I…"

If Emma hadn't been tense before, she was certainly tense now. Every part of her was completely stiff, and her formerly puffy red face was now red in complete rage. Everything about her that made Jordan want to hold her warmly and tell her everything would work out vanished. Jordan found himself sliding away from Emma just a little bit.

"Cliff," venom dripped from her voice as she growled at Noah, "Cliff beat you up and Gia was there?"

"He was taking her to lunch," Noah nodded his head nervously. "She didn't look like she was excited to go so I tried to cut in and give her an out. He snapped and…"

"That son of a bitch's ass is mine," Emma knocked her seat over as she got up and stormed out of the cafeteria.


	19. A Hunting Game

"Emma, wait!" Jordan went after his girlfriend and the rest of the boys were on his heels. They didn't know what had lit a fire under her ass, but they weren't going to let her go tackle the problem alone. They were all still getting to know each other, but even a blind man would have seen the look of rage and hurt on Emma's face once Cliff was named.

Jake had a little bit of an idea, but he hated to assume the worst. Gia had spoken of another guy, before Mick and Alex, who had hurt her badly. She hadn't named him, or said anything about what he had done but Jake had seen he had left some scars.

Jordan caught up to Emma and grabbed her arm. She had fled the school quickly, but as she reached the street she slowed down. Harwood County was a big place. Emma had no idea where to start looking for Cliff or for Gia. All she needed to do was find one of them, but searching for two needles in a haystack was really no easier than just one.

"Cliff is the last guy Gia dated," it was a huge violation of trust. Emma had been sworn to secrecy and breathing a word about what had happened to anyone put her friendship with Gia on the line. Once a secret was out, there was no way to take it back. But Emma valued Gia's safety over her friendship. She would rather have Gia hating her for the rest of their lives than see Cliff hurt her once more. "He's the reason Gia has a hard time trusting guys."

"He hurt her?" Troy asked.

Emma nodded and looked down at her hands. She played with her fingers nervously and tried to hold back her tears, "Imagine… imagine Mick and Alex… but longer, more often, and just… worse. Way, way worse. We were freshmen. He was a senior. He asked her out in October. At first everything was fine. For a while, everything looked fine. But then I started to notice bruises, and Gia started acting differently. I tried to call her out on it, but it pushed her away… it pushed her into Cliff's arms. We fell out until the summer. Cliff had one more night with her and then in the morning, when she woke up, he was gone. He left for college and was never heard from again. Gia came to my place. She was too scared to tell her parents, and mine were out of town, so they wouldn't find out. I cleaned her up and she told me everything. She made me promise not to tell."

"First thing's first, I guess," Troy placed a gentle hand on Emma's shoulder and looked to the boys, "We find Gia or Cliff and make sure we keep them apart."

"Then we'll make sure Gia knows you had no choice," Jordan assured Emma as he wrapped a comforting arm around her. "Even she needs to know that sometimes trust needs to be broken. She'll understand."

"I can go after Gia," Emma nodded her head and looked to Jordan to see if he would follow. He gave her a little smile. She turned to Noah, "Can you, Troy, and Jake try to find Cliff? You remember what he looks like?"

"Not going to forget any time soon," Noah said as he pointed to his bruises. Jake put his arm around his best friend.

"Noah's great with faces. He'll know Cliff as soon as he sees him."

"Thanks guys. And if you do run into Gia… don't let her know I told you guys this," Emma looked up at all the boys pleadingly, "I'll tell her myself once everything's calmed down."

"Promise," the boys assured her and Jake gave Troy and Noah a tap on the back. He pointed down the street and they were off. Emma looked up at Jordan.

"We need to find her first. Before anyone else."

"Where would she go?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders. She started to walk down the path in the opposite direction of the boys. She had no idea where to start looking, but she wouldn't find Gia by standing around.

-Megaforce-

Serena followed Gia to the outskirts of town and into a forest. She kept the younger girl in her sights but didn't dare approach her yet. Gia looked like she knew where she wanted to be and Serena would let her get there. By now, it was obvious to Serena that there was something deeply upsetting Gia. She knew from her many years of dealing with an upset Emily that Gia needed to find somewhere safe before she would open up. It was bad enough a complete stranger was trying to pry into her deepest, darkest secrets, Gia didn't need to feel forced to open up somewhere she didn't feel safe.

The walk through the forest was a long one. Serena stumbled over roots, logs, and even rocks, but she never let Gia out of her sights and eventually found the girl sitting beside what looked to be a very tall weed. She came out of the bushes and sat down beside Gia.

"Is it boy troubles?"

Gia let out a sigh, "I don't want to talk about it."

"I'm good with secrets. I won't tell Ms. Chesterfield anything if you don't want me to. This can stay between us."

"You're not going to leave me alone until I tell you something, are you?"

"I just want to help," Serena said. "I took this job for my sister. Well, more because I needed money for my son…"

"So I'm just a paycheck," Gia glared at Serena's stomach. Serena shook her head.

"I was single and pregnant, and too proud to accept my uncle's money as my only source of income, so he found me a job in a school. I help deal with bullies back at Panorama High. I also just go around helping the students there with anything they need. From homework to personal issues they don't want to talk to their parents about. I love my job. I love it, mostly, because I can stop what happened to my sister from happening to anyone else."

"What happened?"

"Kids at school tore her apart. She would come home crying every day because of the things they said. The things they did."

"So she was bullied. Fine, that sucks. Whatever…"

"Gia, I don't doubt you're an amazing girl. Ms. Chesterfield showed me your assignments, your tests, and past report cards. I've never seen anything so flawless before, and believe me, if you met my friend Kevin, you would know that's a big… well, that's a big deal for me."

"I like doing things right," Gia shrugged her shoulders. "What's wrong with that?"

"Absolutely nothing. It shows me you're a very smart girl. Except that last pop quiz I saw. You failed it."

"So?"

"Your teacher's worried. Chesterfield is worried. Your best friend is worried. I'm worried. You're a very smart and very beautiful girl, Gia. Why aren't you enjoying that?"

"I can't."

"Why?"

Leaves rustling caught Gia's attention and she looked up. She was so far out in the woods she was sure no one would find her. The only person who had ever been this far out before was Emma. A little part of hoped her best friends had found her. But her heart sank, her stomach turned, and all the colour drained from her face when she saw Cliff.

"You were the nature lover, right?" Cliff asked her with a smirk. "Get up. We're going for that date."

"Do you mind?" Serena asked him and then looked to Gia, "You know him."

"I'm her boyfriend," Cliff said as he grabbed Gia's arm and roughly pulled her up. Serena got to her feet.

"Gia, you said you didn't have a boyfriend. Is it true?"

"Of course it's true…"

"I want to hear it from Gia," Serena said and looked the younger girl in the eyes. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Yes," Gia whispered. Cliff smirked at Serena before turning away. He pulled Gia with him.

"I missed you, babe."

A tight, painful squeeze of her arm told Gia what to say, "I missed you too."

Serena shook her head, "Oh, hell no," she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone while silently following Cliff and Gia back towards the city. "C'mon, Ji…"

"Hello?"

"It's Serena. You don't have friends in Harwood, do you?"

"How soon do you need them?"

Serena stopped and looked at her phone. She was thankful the answer was yes, but there had to come a time where Ji didn't have any available friends to help. She shook her head before putting the phone to her ear again.

"As soon as they can get here. And once I know exactly where here is, I'll text you."

"What's going on? Is the kid that bad?"

"I don't like her boyfriend."

"Be careful, Serena. I'm in touch with my friends now. They'll be ready for you when you need them."

"Thanks, Ji."

Serena hung up her phone and followed Gia and Cliff to the end of the forest. She watched them get into a car and groaned. There was no way she could keep up with them on foot.

She placed her hand on her stomach, "It's not abuse if it's to help someone else, is it, kiddo?"

She stretched out her hand and discreetly traced a small Symbol. She pushed it towards the car and it attached itself to the trunk. Serena then reached into her pocket and pulled out her Samuraizer.

She was no fool. When she had gotten the call from a school in Harwood County and accepted the temporary position, she knew she would be staying in a city where there were monsters attacking. Fortunately, the city had its own team of Rangers, so the Samurai didn't need to come out of retirement, but they did keep their eye on the news. When Serena knew she would find herself back in a city under attack, she got her Samuraizer from Ji just as extra protection.

She flipped open her Samuraizer and smirked. There was a signal on the screen and it told her exactly where the car was. Not wanting Cliff and Gia to know they were being followed, Serena waited for the car to drive off into the distance before she summoned herself a horse to bring her back to the city.


	20. A Rough Date

Cliff drove his car to an older part of town – a dirty part of town. He had dropped out of college and decided to come back to Harwood County to find Gia, take her back, and they would stay at the house he bought. No matter how much Gia protested in the car, saying she didn't want to be with him, saying she wanted to go home, Cliff knew what she really wanted.

He stopped the car at an older, run-down home. He didn't have much money on him, so this was all he could afford to rent. It had all he needed and he didn't mind that some of the walls were cracked and the appliances were likely older than he was. As long as they worked, he was okay.

He got out of the car, closed the door and walked around to help Gia out. She was frozen in her seat. He had to pull her out. She tumbled on the driveway at his feet.

"Get up," he grabbed her arm, pulled her up, and then held the back of her neck and walked her towards the house.

"Cliff…"

"No one was as good as you, babe," Cliff leaned over and gave Gia a kiss. When she turned her cheek, Cliff squeezed her neck tightly.

"Like you mean it."

Gia kissed him back. When he was satisfied, he opened the door and pushed her inside, "We've got a lot of catching up to do."

Across the street, standing right in plain sight and watching was Serena. She had followed the couple using her Samuraizer and a Symbol that tracked them, and never let the car out of the sights. When Cliff pulled up into the driveway of a house, she decided to watch from there. If possible, she wanted Cliff to know someone was coming for Gia, but it seemed he was too caught up in his own world.

And it seemed if Gia wouldn't do what he wanted, she was in for a world of pain.

"Guys like you disgust me," Serena muttered. She put her Samuraizer to her ear, "Ji, your friends…"

"On their way. What do you need them to do?"

"Surround the house and watch my back. When I go in, I want to know I've got back-up in case I need it."

"Serena, how dangerous is this kid? You're four months pregnant, you shouldn't…"

"I need to do this, Ji," Serena insisted. "If I'm working with Gia for a while, which it looks like I will be after this, I need her to trust me."

"Some trust exercise."

"I know what I'm doing."

"Make sure you do. We don't need another screw up."

"Ha-ha… good one…" Serena rolled her eyes and hung up, "I'm good at my job…"

-Megaforce-

Though Emma's rage was strong, her search for her best friend was looking dead. Harwood County was a big place, and Gia and Cliff could be anywhere – separate or together. Emma knew that the more time that passed the more Gia would need her help. Cliff was dangerous, and it he got the chance, he would destroy her all over again. That was how he liked his women: weak.

She and Jordan walked to the park, where Noah, Jake, and Troy were already waiting for them after their own failed search. Each of the boys looked almost as worried as Emma.

"Nothing?" Jake asked.

"I've tried calling her, but it goes straight to voicemail," Emma said, "There's got to be a way to find her. I mean… he can't just take her away, right?"

Jordan wrapped his arm around Emma and he pulled her in closer. Emma was very thankful she had Jordan, especially at a time like now. Though she had no idea what she would do if anything happened to Gia – if anything came between them – she knew she could count on Jordan. She knew he would stay by her. She leaned into him, asking him to hold her a little closer. He did. Emma felt a little better, but the first thought on her mind was Gia.

Noah had taken to sitting on the park bench and worked on his laptop. He had been looking for a way to find Gia, either by tapping into the city's cameras or by tracking her cell phone, neither of which had panned out. So instead, he tried something different. Instead, he had chosen to work on finding the signal of her morpher, and tracking her that way. The morpher was a communication device, and so it had to give off some kind of signal.

Fortunately, it did. Noah pulled up a map of the city and saw one dot over a house in the older part of a town. A part the kids rarely ventured to because there was nothing there. The people were mean and the stores were too run down to be cool or to sell anything of interest to teens.

"I might have her," Noah took down the address and then closed his laptop. He put it back in his bag and then smiled up at his team.

"Where is she?" Jake asked. Noah handed his best friend the address.

"I'm getting a signal from her morpher from this house. It could be slightly off, and she may have been separated from her morpher but… Emma, is everything okay?"

"She's with Cliff," Emma's face was white as a sheet, "She… she has no reason to go there… she… she's with him." She had considered this possibility, but now that it was actually real, now that her friend was actually in trouble, and had been for a while, Emma was terrified.

"She's fine," Jordan assured her with a gentle squeeze, "Gia's a tough girl."

Emma shook her head. She took the address from Jake and started to run. The boys followed her.

-Megaforce-

Gia was on the couch. Cliff was on top of her. He was kissing her and touching her, and as of now, doing what he could to unhook her bra. It seemed he was still bad at that.

His touch felt like sandpaper. His touch made her feel dirty. Gia did what he expected from her, but her eyes were wide open and looking around for something she could use to defend herself. Her fists weren't enough. She had tried and failed, and earned herself a black eye and a spank on the butt. She still hurt. He still knew how to humiliate her.

"Why don't we take this up to the bedroom?" Cliff asked her between kisses but Gia knew it was a demand. He was not to be defied. His weight came off her and then he grabbed her and pulled her up. He wrapped one arm around her to insure she wouldn't go anywhere, and then Gia felt his hand slipping down her back, into her pants. Fear came over her and she pushed him away. Cliff grabbed her arm to steady himself and then he pushed back. He pushed her into the wall and then punched her in the stomach. Gia doubled over in pain and fell to her knees.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Cliff shouted. He grabbed her hair, pulled her up, and then shoved her into the stairs, "Get upstairs!"

Gia did as she was told, only faster. She ran up the stairs and into the nearest bedroom. She closed the door and could see it had no lock. Cliff would come in, he would come after her, and if she wasn't where he wanted her, he would throw another fit.

Gia glanced over to the bed, took a step forward and then heard a voice in her head, "You're better than this, Gia."

It was hard to believe. Bad things like this kept happening to her. It had started with Cliff, and then came the stares that wouldn't stop. The thoughts in people's minds. No one gave up. No one took no for an answer. Not from her. This was all she was. A prize to be won. The whole school saw her that way. Cliff saw her that way.

Cliff came into the room, saw Gia wasn't on the bed like he had asked and he was furious. He stormed over to her. Fear kicked in again. Gia pulled away. Cliff managed to snag her arm, pulled her back, punched her in the stomach, and then when she fell down, he put his foot on her head.

"You and I have a bit of a problem," he pushed down on her head and then moved his foot away. Gia got up on all fours, so Cliff kicked her.

"Get on the bed!" he shouted. He knelt beside her, "Get up!"

"Stop it!"

He got back to his feet and had a look around the room. He saw an old wooden child's chair in the corner of the room. He picked it up and launched it at Gia.

He had been the quarter back on the high school football team. When he threw anything, it went exactly where it needed to go. Gia had been on her knees, trying to get up either to run or get on the bed, when the chair hit her and knocked her down. It broke apart when it hit the floor, so Cliff looked around for something else.

"I said get up!"

-Megaforce-

Serena stood across the street and glared at the house. Ji's friends needed to come faster.

Finally, cars came down from both sides of the street, and when they stopped, a group of men and women came out. They wore jackets, all of which bared the Shiba Family crest on the shoulder.

"Took you long enough!" Serena cried and ran towards the house. She had no idea what was going on inside and wasn't sure how much time Gia could afford. She didn't know Cliff. She didn't know what he wanted, and how long he would wait for it. Some men were patient, some were quick tempered. When Serena reached the door she tried it, and wasn't surprised to find it was locked. It took her a minute to pull out her Samuraizer. In that minute, she heard glass shatter and a scream. She turned around as a body hit the ground.

"Fuck!" Serena ran on the lawn and dropped down beside Gia.

Cliff stumbled out of the house, saw Gia on the ground, and seemed somewhat shocked. He stumbled slightly as he took to the streets.

"Don't let him go!" Serena screamed to Ji's friends who chased after him. Some ran, others went for their cars. If Cliff tried anything, they would be able to follow.

But as he reached the end of the street, Cliff was knocked off his feet. A weight landed on top of him and suddenly he was punched in the face – several times.

"You hurt her, didn't you?" Emma screamed. She grabbed Cliff's collar, lifted him from the ground and then slammed him down again. There was some blood on his shirt and some on his hands. Emma noticed when he grabbed her wrists to try and get her off. It was either his blood, but Emma knew it was more likely Gia's.

When Cliff didn't answer her, Emma pulled her fist away to ready herself for another punch. Cliff deserved it. Someone grabbed her wrist before she could bring her hand down. Someone else grabbed her and pulled her away. As she was lifted from Cliff, two men grabbed him, rolled him to his stomach and then pulled his hands behind his back. They were secured there with handcuffs.

Jake watched as Jordan and Troy tried to hold Emma back. Naturally, the pink Ranger wanted to take matters in her own hands. Cliff deserved to be punished, and Emma wanted to be the one to make sure he got exactly what he deserved. A few punches to the face didn't seem like enough.

So Jake had a look around. If Cliff was here, and Gia's signal had come from a house on this street, she had to be nearby and she had to be scared. Emma had told him what Cliff had already done to Gia and he was sure that an older, stronger Cliff would only be worse.

He saw someone lying on the lawn in front of one of the houses. The blond hair, black boots, and yellow shirt were giveaways. While the boys took care of Emma, and the police, or whoever the men and women were who were taking Cliff away, dealt with him, Jake ran to Gia. He fell down beside her and the woman looking over her.

He was careful as he reached out to her. Gia had made it clear before Cliff's return that she wasn't comfortable with the stares, the looks, and the touches. Jake had managed to wrap his arm around her comfortingly a couple of times, but he doubts this would be a time to push his luck. However, she wasn't conscious.

"She fell," Serena explained, hoping this kid was a friend and not another Cliff. "I've called for the ambulance already."

"The… the ambulance?" Jake had ridden with Gia in and ambulance once before, but only when he was sure she would be okay. She had lost consciousness briefly, but had been awake for the entire ride over to the hospital, and joking with him after the doctors cleaned her up. This time, he wasn't sure what had happened to her, and the woman looking over her seemed to have a worried look on her face.

"I've seen this before," Serena told Jake as she very gently inspected Gia's head. There were bruises and cuts, and Gia looked a lot like the Rangers after they got out of a nasty fight against the Nighlok. She hoped the younger girl had as tough a head as a Samurai. She had certainly been stubborn for as long as Serena had known her. "If we get her checked out fast enough, she'll be fine. Don't worry."

The ambulance pulled up on the street. Jake could only watch as Serena helped the paramedics get Gia in the car. Then Serena turned to him.

"I have my guesses about what happened," she said, "but do you know exactly what Cliff's capable of?"

Jake shook his head fearfully. Emma had shared with him and the others what Cliff had done in the past, so he had an idea, but he couldn't get in the ambulance this time. This time felt bad."

Fortunately, Emma's attention shifted away from trying to avenge Gia and over to the ambulance one she heard the sirens. She ran into the back of the truck and sat down beside her best friend. Serena recognized Emma. They had met at the school. She was Gia's best friend.

When the doors closed, the ambulance sped off. Jake sat on the grass and watched, completely terrified. Anything could happened. He had been told his grandmother, his aunt, and his cousins would be okay, but they had died.

Noah and the boys came over. The blue Ranger put his hand on his best friend's shoulder.

"Emma said we could wait at her place. She'll call when something happens."

Noah helped Jake up on his feet, and kept a comforting hand on his shoulder as they walked off. Jordan and Troy looked to each other sadly. The men had taken Cliff away and had promised it would be a long time before he was seen again. That left the red Ranger and Jordan alone in the yard.

"So…"

"I want to check out the house," Troy said as he walked inside. He found Gia's backpack sitting in the hallway and picked it up. Then he walked up the stairs. Jordan followed him around.

"He beat her up. The doctors will see the bruises, Gia's babysitter will be a witness, and he'll be locked up. What do we need?"

Troy had a look around the bedroom with the broken window. He could tell the fight had taken place here. Gia had struggled. Cliff didn't like it. By the state of the room, with the broken or overturned furniture, it was obvious what Cliff did when he didn't like something.

"I got it," Troy gestured to Gia's bag and then they walked out of the house.

"Some guys are real jerks," Jordan muttered as he walked with Troy. The red Ranger nodded his head.

"Some people think they're better than everyone else. Some people think they can always get their way."

"I knew this kind of stuff happened all the time," Jordan said, "but I never really thought. I mean… Gia's always been tough. Sure, Mick and Alex got in, but she was drunk or whatever, right?"

"You really never know," Troy nodded. "I was bullied when I was younger."

"No way," Jordan shook his head, "Aren't you, like, a black belt?"

"Now. Let's just go home."


	21. Getting Help

Emma waited nervously in the hospital waiting room. She had done what she could for Gia and now just needed to wait to see her.

The hospital had called Gia's parents, who then, wanting to catch the one responsible for hurting their daughter, contacted the police. Emma had explained to Mr. and Mrs. Moran what Cliff had tried to do and what he had done before. It had come to a shock to Gia's parents. Gia had kept her secret hidden from everyone, especially them.

Cliff was already I custody. Serena, who sat with Emma, assured her that Cliff wouldn't be a free man for a while if Gia decided she would press chargers. Serena spoke with certainty, like she knew Gia wouldn't hesitate to speak up against her attacker for what he had done. Emma knew better. She had tried to convince Gia once to press chargers. Gia had been too scared.

But Emma hoped Gia would do it this time. She hoped Cliff would be locked away and never seen again. All it took was Gia's word.

"Look," Serena said to Emma, "I know…"

"You let her go with him" Emma turned her back to Serena. She hated her strongly. "When she ran away, you went after her."

"I did what I needed to do…"

"You let her fall out of a window! You let her go with that monster!" Emma screamed.

"I didn't know who he was."

"You're her babysitter, right?" Emma rolled her eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest, "You were supposed to keep an eye on her. You should have told Cliff to back off."

"I did what I could," Serena leaned in a little closer to Emma, "Look, I don't like how things turned out either. Ideally, I guess I would want that scumbag behind bars and for Gia to be eating ice-cream or whatever with you and your friends."

Serena put her hand on Emma's shoulders. The younger girl shrugged it off. Serena sighed.

"I know how much it hurts," she said, "You watch someone you care about deeply get hurt over and over again, and no matter what you do, no matter how much you try to help, you can't help them. You've done a great thing for Gia, and if I learned anything when I did get a word out of her it was that she really trusts you. I know you'll do what's right for your friend, even if it means you aren't the one helping her."

"What can you do?"

"The school hired me to get her to talk about her issues."

"Yeah, when they thought she was just punching people. You don't know…"

"I didn't, but I'm not giving up on her just because she's a little more complicated than we first assumed. Gia's been through a lot. She's going to have a long recovery. I want to help."

"What can you do? You're just a school counsellor. What do you know about what Gia…?"

"One of my boyfriends was a pretty big douchebag. Even while we were dating, he threatened my friends and my sister. He hurt them. I still went out with him. I still loved him because I thought he would change for me. I thought I could make him good. It took me a long time before I realized how wrong I was, and how dangerous a monster he was. The break-up was messy, and even long after we split, he continued to threaten me, my friends, my new boyfriend, and my son. Our son."

Emma turned to Gia, "Did he… to you too?"

"No," Serena shook her head, "We slept together out of love, and as you probably heard, all it takes is one time."

"But you… you can still kind of… relate?"

"I can help Gia," Serena nodded, "If she lets me, we can tackle this together. I'm not going to betray her, Emma, and I'm not going to hurt her. I came here because I want to help. I'm staying, because I want to help Gia. She's a good kid with a lot of potential. I know you know that. She just needs… more than her best friend."

Those words felt like a knife in Emma's heart. Growing up, hers and Gia's friendship had always been strong enough to break through anything. Recently, their friendship had even broken through a spell and saved the world. Emma had always been able to lean on Gia for everything, and vice-versa. To hear that, all of a sudden, she wasn't enough was one of the most painful things to ever happen to Emma.

Serena saw the look on Emma's face and hugged the younger girl, "She still needs you, Emma, but you have to step aside. You have to let me in. I'll be her babysitter, and I'm not going to disappoint you or her. You'll be her best friend."

"But she's not going to talk to you," Emma whispered, "She doesn't trust you."

"If you tell her to, she might. She trusts you so much, Emma, I think you can talk her into it."

"Tell her what to do? What, like Cliff did?"

"You'll be helping her. It's different."

"Emma," Mrs. Moran stood by the doors with her husband and a couple of police officers, "Can you stay with Gia while we take care of a few things?"

Emma nodded her head and got up. She didn't need to be asked twice. She then turned around and looked at Serena, "You promise you can help?"

"It's not going to be easy," Serena said, "but everything I do, I'm going to do to help. The best friend you know and love, you'll get her back."

Emma let out a deep breath and then walked down the halls to Gia's room. She gestured for Serena to follow her.

Gia was resting when they reached the room. Serena sat in a corner, out of the way, while Emma didn't hesitate to take the seat right next to the bed. She took Gia's hand and held it gently as she looked over the numerous scars and bruises Cliff had left for her this time. She had two black eyes, and the left side of her face was also covered in bruises. Cliff was right handed, so it made sense most of his punches landed there. It was the same as last time. There were also couple of scrapes and a gash on her forehead which was now covered by bandage. Along her arms, chest, legs, and back were more bruises, cuts, scrapes, and even scratch marks.

Emma knew those would heal. It was what the doctors couldn't see that really worried Emma. It was the scars they couldn't fix that had her scared she would lose her best friend for good. Cliff's first relationship with her had destroyed her from the inside out, and it took months before Emma saw signs of her best friend coming back to her. Two years later, the real Gia still only came out from time to time, and only when Gia was alone and safe with Emma. This led a lot of the girls around school to come up to Emma and ask, without hesitating, why Emma even bothered to put up with Gia at all if she was so cold and aloof all the time.

Cliff had also destroyed Gia's ability to make friends and to trust other people. She had been young when Cliff had asked her out – only fifteen – and when they dated, Gia gave him her whole heart. Then they played the usual game of hit-sorry-never again-hit. Emma had noticed, and had tried to call Gia out of it, hoping to save her best friend, but Gia believed Cliff's lies that the last time was the last time. She had given him her heart and thought he had done the same in return. But he never gave her anything. He took. He took everything she had until there was nothing left for him and then he ran. Gia woke up one morning, sore and badly beaten from the night before and naked in his bed. She expected Cliff to roll over and apologize again but he had disappeared. Heartbroken, she had run back to Emma, but she wasn't the same Gia.

"Emma?" it was Gia's parents. They were back and they wanted to sit with their daughter. Mrs. Moran put a hand on Emma's shoulder, "You should go home. Gia's going to be okay."

"Did she…?"

"We're pressing charges," Mr. Moran answered with a nod of his head, "Cliff's not coming back. You don't need to worry about him anymore."

Emma gulped. She got out of the seat to leave, but not before giving Gia's hand a little squeeze to let her best friend known she had been by her side. As she walked to the door, with Serena close behind, Mrs. Moran caught her arm.

"You're a good friend, Emma. Thank you for looking out for her."

Emma nodded her head and then left. Serena followed her outside the hospital. Emma turned to the older girl.

"You don't need to follow me around."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm going out to the woods," Emma said. Serena looked to her a little confused, so she explained, "It calms me when I ride."

"Ride?"

"BMX."

"Cool," Serena smiled and then handed Emma a paper with a phone number on it, "Whenever you or your friends need me."

"I thought you were Gia's babysitter."

"Doesn't mean I can't help anyone else."

Emma took the paper and put it in her pocket. Then she set off for home, where she would grab her bike and then ride out to the woods. Serena went the other way, back to her hotel room. Her in-school babysitting job had gotten a lot harder now that the kid she was supposed to keep an eye on would be spending the next couple of days in the hospital.

Of course, the school was bound to hear what had happened. A big scene had been made when Gia had been found and so surely a couple reporters were going to write about it in the papers or online. So Serena knew her work needed to start in school before Gia's return.


	22. Sweet Songs

Troy had gone with the boys to wait for news on Gia. They were likely all going to spend the night at Emma's house. Her parents still hadn't come home so they could stay as long as they pleased and as long as Emma allowed them. Tired from his day of running around, Troy took a quick nap on the couch, certain that if they heard anything more from Emma about Gia, the boys would wake him up or tell him about it when he got out of bed.

He had another dream – like all the ones before with past Ranger teams and past red Rangers, only this one was very different from all of them. This one was about the white Samurai Ranger. He saw her briefly in uniform before his dream changed to a woman in white.

He had no flashes of the white Ranger in battle. He saw her life without ever once seeing her face. She had grown up on a farm. She had always known of her duty to be a Ranger, the yellow Ranger, but an illness prevented her from going down that path and she suffered from it for eight years. It was long enough for her parents to pass on her responsibilities as a yellow Ranger to her much younger sister, who, when duty called, left the house and the future white Ranger behind with no promise of ever returning.

Troy could not, for the life of him, understand what these dreams were or what they meant to him. More frustrating than that, he couldn't understand why he was the only one suffering from them.

When he woke up, he needed to clear his mind and decided to go for a run through the woods. It was peaceful out there, and he knew he wouldn't be interrupted. He told the boys he was going and then set off.

He liked to stick to his usual path because he didn't need to think about where he was going. He could focus solely on his dream and trying to decipher it.

He was very distracted when he focused on his thoughts, but his senses were still sharp. On a higher path, a little ways away from where he jogged, Troy saw someone speeding by on a bike. Only one person would come this far out on a bike. He ran to catch her, calling her name once. Emma didn't hear him and continued to ride. Troy went after her, curious as to where she could be going and why she wasn't with Gia.

She was faster on her bike, but Troy could follow her trail. He eventually caught up to her bike, but Emma was nowhere to be seen. Instead, he could hear her. She was signing. Her voice was soft and sweet and Troy couldn't believe how amazing she sounded. He sang too, on occasion, but only in the shower, and even he had to admit he wasn't that great.

He followed the sound of her voice to a clearing. Emma was walking through the field and singing. She hugged herself for comfort, and didn't notice Troy at all until he took a misstep and cracked a twig on the ground. The sudden noise made Emma scream and jump. She thought she had been alone. Her face turned red when she knew Troy had heard her singing.

"I…"

"I didn't know you could sing," Troy said. Emma shrugged her shoulders, walked over to a nearby tree and sat down. Troy took a seat beside her. "You're really good."

"Thanks. Mom can sing. I guess I get that from her."

"I've never heard that song before," Troy pointed out, "Did you…?"

"I wish. Mom used to sing it to me when I was little. Before she and dad started travelling a lot."

"Do they always leave you behind?"

Emma nodded her head, "They always say the trip's going to be boring. Dad will be on business, and mom just likes to shop. But then they come back with these amazing stories and pictures and mom's always got a bunch of cool stuff."

"It must be hard."

"Gia stays with me. When mom and dad are gone I have the house to myself, so we have sleepovers that last for weeks at a time. It's fun."

"Speaking of Gia," Troy looked over, "We thought you would stay at the hospital."

"I'm worried," Emma whispered. "Last time, it took a really long time for Gia to bounce back."

"How long?"

"This morning, Gia and I were talking about the newspaper article. You know, the story she told the paper and printed."

"I've seen it. That picture on the cover, it's beautiful. You and Gia both look really happy."

"This morning, Gia promised me she was going to try and start opening up to you guys. She was going to try trusting other people again. It took her until this morning to start really trying."

"And Cliff came after her…"

"Two years ago," Emma pulled her knees to her chest. "Serena's going to help her. Apparently, she's been through something similar, but it's just… what if Gia's gone for good, this time? I mean, I let her down twice now. What if she thinks she can't trust me?"

"You let her down?"

"She ignored me the first time, so I ignored her," Emma said. "I'm lucky she did come back. I didn't deserve it."

"And this time?"

Emma looked down at her ribs and sighed, "Loogies didn't hurt me. I met up with Cliff in the woods when we were training and I didn't tell Gia about it. If I had, maybe she would have been more careful."

"Does she know that?"

"I have to tell her," tears came to Emma's eyes, "All this happened because I didn't say anything. Now she's hurt, and I was too late to help her. I mean a stranger could find her and help her before I could. Serena was right there and I was…"

"Doing all you could."

"I could have been there sooner."

"Gia's going to be happy you were there at all. She's really lucky to have a friend like you," Troy got to his feet. "It's getting late. We should go back. Something tells me we'll have a lot of damage control to do at school tomorrow when the other kids hear about what happened."

Emma nodded and took Troy's hand as he helped her up. Just as she got to her feet, an awful piercing sound reached her ears. She clutched her head tightly, dropped to her knees, and tried to drown out the noise, but she couldn't even hear herself think. The noise was so loud; it was like nails on a chalkboard inside her head, and she couldn't shake it. She could barely move her body. The pain started in her ears, up to her head, and then traveled down the rest of her body.

Then, just as quickly as it started, it stopped, but Emma still hurt everywhere. She placed her hand on the trunk of the tree beside her and pulled herself up. Troy rose slowly as well, and it looked like he had been in as much pain as she had. He placed his hand on her back.

"That sounds like me singing."

"What?" Emma rubbed her ear. The noise had stopped, but her ears were ringing loudly.

"What?" Troy has seen her lips move, but couldn't hear her over the ringing in his own ears. "I said…"

"What?"

"Home," Troy flicked his thumb over his shoulder and said the words slowly so Emma could read his lips. She understood, nodded her head, and followed him back home.


	23. Stand By Her

Jake couldn't stop fiddling with anything he could get his hands on. He, Noah, and Jordan were at Emma's house, waiting for an update on Gia to know if she would be okay.

Jake had been to the hospital recently, but it had been different. He had been the only one there for Gia when she had gotten hurt, and he knew she would be okay. None of her injuries would be life-threatening, and he had been sure she would tell him off for getting the paramedics involved. This time, though, was different. Cliff had hurt Gia badly. He had tossed her out of a second story window, or she had been so scared she had jumped, Jake wasn't sure of the story yet, and wouldn't be until Gia told him. Only she knew what had happened inside the house.

The boys had gotten an update from Emma once, stating Gia would be okay physically, and the doctors were positive she would have a full recovery physically, but that continued to worry Jake. Emma kept saying physically, like she knew there was something more. Jake couldn't imagine the position Gia had been in with Cliff. He could hardly get Gia to pass him a napkin when they hung out at Ernie's, so for someone to have her willingly be the weaker person and submit…

Cliff had played a cruel mind game. Jake was no genius in psychology, but he knew the damage done was more than just physical, and so now he feared the hospital would take someone else from him. He worried, when Gia was free to leave, that she wouldn't come home. He worried Cliff had destroyed her, and Gia wouldn't be the same. He worried he would lose her for good, and he couldn't bear the thought.

Noah came over and sat beside him. He handed him a sandwich. He and Jordan had made dinner in the kitchen and they had called for Jake several times, but the black Ranger never answered. Noah decided he would go to him, sit with him, and comfort him. He put his hand on Jake's shoulder.

"It's going to be okay."

"What if she's really not okay? What if this is it? I mean, the first time…"

"The first time lasted a lot longer," Noah reminded Jake. "Remember what Emma said? That would have been, like, October to August. He got away with a lot more. We rescued Gia in a day."

"But she's more fragile, she's…"

"We're going to help her," Noah insisted. "We're going to be there, supporting her. C'mon, Jake, you've never given up on her before. Show her you're better that guys like Cliff. She needs to know there are people, boys that actually do care about her. And you do."

"Noah…"

"I've always known you cared. I've always known you were a great guy."

"You told me I didn't have a shot with her," Jake said. "You kept saying…"

"You know what I meant. And besides… I kind of hoped you would give up. You tried so hard, and you were always so good to her. The others guys would push and they would make comments about her, but you just…"

"Annoyed her."

"You had a good heart. I knew you did. I didn't want her to crush that. She was cold, and I was worried one day she wouldn't turn you down nicely. I was worried she would get fed up, say something that would get through that thick skin of yours, and then… you'd be hurt. I was just trying to look out for you."

"And now that she's broken, you think I have a shot? Noah, I'm not even thinking about that right now!"

"No, no that's not it," Noah shook his head to emphasize his point, "I just… now I know why she's so cold. Now I get it. I'm not scared she's going to hurt you anymore. And I know you're a good guy. You're my best friend. You stood up against your crush for me. I think, you're the guy who can show her we're not all assholes."

"If she ever comes back? What if Gia's never the same again?"

"She'll still be my friend," Noah said. He took the sandwich and offered it again to Jake, "We can't give up on her. You can't give up on her. If you really do care about Gia for what she's got on the inside, and I know you do, you're not going to give up and let her walk away."

Jake nodded his head. He took a bite from the sandwich. Noah gave his friend a smile.

"The hospital isn't taking her away.'

"Thanks, dude. I owe you."

"Naw," Noah shook his head. Just then, the front door opened. Troy and Emma stumbled inside. All eyes turned to them. They looked okay, maybe a little messy from having been out in the woods for a couple of hours, but there was something wrong. Jordan set his plate down and rushed to Emma.

"What happened?"

"Please don't yell…" Emma winced. Her head was pounding, her ears hurt, she was out of breath, and she was exhausted.

"I'm not…" Jordan started; saw the look of pain on Emma's face, and the continued with a softer voice, "I wasn't yelling. Emma, what happened? Are you okay?"

"You mean, you didn't her it?" Troy asked. Noah and Jake came over and walked him to the couch. He was in just as much pain as Emma, "We thought it came from the city."

"What did?" Jordan looked at Emma worriedly. He held her a little closer, "Em…"

"A loud… screeching noise," Emma explained. "Just… it was noise, and there was a lot of it. I… I can't explain it. You didn't…"

"Nothing," Jordan shook his head. He pulled Emma into his arms, "Was it a monster? Do you think…?"

"I don't know," Emma groaned. "I just need to lie down."

She moved away from Jordan and walked up the stairs to her bedroom. Her footsteps on the stairs hurt her ears, and she could only make it half way up before she dropped to her knees and clutched her head. Jordan raced up after her and carried her the rest of the way. His footsteps hurt her ears, but at least, once he got her in bed and left her to rest in the peace and quiet of her room, it would all be over with.

As Jordan walked around upstairs, Troy winced in pain. It hurt him too, but he had to talk to the boys.

"Jordan…," the sound of his own voice hurt, "Jordan might be right. You need to check it out. Just… don't let him blast out your eardrums like he did with us."

"Ranger ear plugs. Noah?" Jake turned to his best friend.

"Use your IPod," Noah said, "If we can drown out the monster's noise with our own music, maybe it can't affect us."

"Worth a shot," Jake reached into his pockets. He always had his IPod with him. Noah was the same way. Jake looked to the blue Ranger once their headphones were in and their music was on. "How loud should we play it?"

"What?" Noah asked, raising his voice slightly. Troy winced in pain and blocked his ears with the pillows on the couch.

"What?" Jake asked in return.

"I can't hear you!" Noah said, "The music needs to be loud enough to cancel out the other noises!"

"What did you say?" Jake cried. Troy ripped the headphone jacks from the boys IPods.

"Just please leave," he begged them. They nodded and rushed out of the house.


	24. Rangers Meet

Serena got to her hotel room and crashed on the bed. She had never been so happy to come home after a long day at work.

And the day had been long. On her very first day at the new school, she had lost the one kid she was supposed to keep her eye on, chased her out of town into the woods, chased her and her abusive boyfriend back into the city, hired a team of friends to kick the abusive boyfriend's ass (though Emma did that job on her own), took the girl to the hospital, gave her statement to the police because she had been a witness, comforted the best friend, and now, only now, was she finally able to rest.

She had ordered room service, thinking she deserved it after her day, and decided that while she waited for a warm meal to come to her door she turned on the TV. She flipped to the news. She wanted to see just how far Gia's story had spread already, and how much damage control she would have to do when she started her second day at work.

The news wasn't covering Gia's story anymore. Instead they had moved on. A monster was attacking the city, blasting people with sound waves that caused them physical pain from hearing it, and left them with a sensitivity to even the slightest of sounds. Serena took her Samuraizer from her pocket and fiddled with it nervously. This city had its own Rangers so she wouldn't likely need to intervene, but she still got worried.

And fortunately the Rangers did show up, but there was something off. Even the reported noticed it. This was the first monster attack in several days, and only two Rangers showed up to save the day. Serena bit her lip nervously but decided to give the team time. Sometimes, it took longer for some Rangers to reach the battlefield than others. Help wasn't coming. Five minutes passed, ten minutes passed, and the only Rangers on the scene were black and blue – literally and figuratively. They didn't seem to be affected by the monster's spell, but they were taking a beating.

"Daddy's not going to like this," Serena whispered and rubbed her stomach gently before leaving her hotel room and morphing as she raced to the sight of the battle. She saw the boys on the ground, reeling in pain after an attack and knew she had to jump in quickly. She drew her Spin Sword and attacked the monster from behind. When the monster turned around, he tried to counter with his own attack. It seemed he created the painful sound waves by playing on his guitar shaped body. Serena blocked his attack, using a think earth wall to stop the waves from reaching her. Then she shot the earth towards the monster, burying him.

The monster crawled out from under all the dirt and started to run, "No one told me about a white Ranger!"

Serena watched the monster flee and felt a little disappointed. She knew she shouldn't push her luck. She was supposed to be retired and pregnant, but she had expected a little more action than that.

"I've fought Moogers who were tougher than you!" she called to the fleeing monster before she turned to the two Rangers. They picked themselves up and walked over to her.

"Who are you?" they asked. Serena shook her head.

"It's probably best if we don't spill secrets. My team's trying to stay in retirement."

"Fair enough," the blue Ranger nodded his head, "Thanks for your help."

"You looked like you needed it," Serena said. "I saw the news. Any reason why it's just the two of you?"

"That monster already attacked our friends," the black Ranger said, "They're at home resting."

"And how come you two weren't affected?"

"We blocked out his noise with our own music. We could still hear a bit of it though. I'm no musician, but even I know that was terrible," the blue Ranger rubbed the spot on his helmet that covered his ear and then tapped the black Ranger on the chest; "We should probably get back to them."

The black Ranger nodded and then turned to the white Ranger, "Thanks again for your help."

"Anytime," Serena said and watched them run off. Then she looked around before she powered down. She heard her phone ringing softly and answered it with a sigh, "James, before you yell at me let me explain…"

-Megaforce-

In the hospital, Gia was resting in her bed. Her parents stayed by her side, but for now they were in the cafeteria getting dinner. Gia had asked for some time to herself and at this point, anything she wanted she got. Her father had even promised to bring up a slice of cake for her as a treat when they came back.

Gia lay in silence, staring out the hospital window sadly. She couldn't close her eyes. Whenever she did, all she saw was Cliff's face. Tears stung at her eyes and her body hurt badly. She hurt badly. She couldn't believe she had let Cliff control her like that. Though she had put up a fight, she had been no match for him. Even the yellow Ranger was too weak to fight Cliff.

Her phone started to ring. Gia knew the ringtone well. It was Emma calling. She thought about ignoring it and rolled over to turn away from it. She let it go to voicemail. Then it rang again. She ignored it. It rang again. Finally, she turned over, grabbed her phone, answered it, but didn't say a word.

On her end, Emma hear the ringing stop, and could hear Gia's breathing on the other end. Her ears were extremely sensitive to even the smallest of noises. This phone call was physically painful for her, but she couldn't sleep without checking up on Gia.

"Gia? Are you there?"

Gia hung up the phone and buried it under her pillow. It rang again. She could hear it. She answered it again without a word and set the phone on speaker.

"Gia, please say something. I really need to sleep but I can't until I know you're okay. Gia? Gia? Are you mad? I swear, I was there. I was with you! I was in the ambulance. I sat by your bed but you were sleeping. Gia? Please don't ignore me."

Gia wasn't ignoring her. She was listening. She wouldn't say anything, though. There was nothing to say.

"Your parents probably told you, but Cliff's gone. We don't have to worry anymore. Gia?" Emma's voice started to sound shaky. She was likely very worried. Gia couldn't think of anything to say. She continued to listen as Emma worked herself up.

"I had to tell them. I needed to tell them what had happened. I know you asked me not to but… Gia, please don't be mad. I did it to help. I did it so Cliff would finally be gone for good. I promise, he's not going to hurt you again. I'd kill a cow and eat it before I would ever let that creep near you again. Gia?"

Hearing Emma say it made Gia feel better. Emma wouldn't lie to her. She trusted Emma when she saw Cliff was gone. She trusted her best friend over her parents, the police, and the nurses, who tried to make light of what happened by telling her it could have been a lot worse. They had no idea.

So Gia said that, "I believe you."

"Gia! You're there! I was so worried."

"Emma…"

"Yeah? … Gia? Gia, it's going to be okay. Do you… you should get some rest. I should hang up. Goodnight, Gia."

Neither made a move to hang up. They sat silently for a moment before Emma spoke up again, "You didn't hang up?"

Gia didn't want to hang up. Listening to Emma talk took her mind off Cliff. She closed her eyes and listen to her best friend speak.

"Gia? I know you're there. I can hear you breathing. You know it's going to be okay, right? We can put this behind us. Serena really wants to help, and I think she can. When the hospital lets you go, maybe the three of us can go to Ernie's. My treat. You can get whatever you want. And we'll do whatever you want. We… we can… well, you just name it. We'll have a lot of fun, I promise. Gia… Gia, are you, is that snoring?"

Gia had fallen asleep. Emma could hear the light snoring. On her end, she gave a little smile and then hung up the phone. Her head was killing her and she still hurt, but at least she knew Gia was okay.

After hanging up the phone the room was silent. Emma could hear her thoughts again. She closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.


	25. A School Improvement Project

The following day, Troy was at school. His head felt a little better, but he was still sensitive to sounds. The whispers in the halls bothered him greatly. However, it wasn't enough for him to miss school. He just hoped class would be bearable with only the teacher talking.

"Dude, dude," Jake and Noah rushed over to him and not only were their pounding footsteps hard to listen to, but they were calling for him. As it stood, he could hear a pin dropping at the other end of the hall. They didn't need to call so loudly. Troy hissed and grabbed his head.

"Guys…"

"Sorry," Noah lowered his voice to a whisper and then he and Jake pulled Troy into an empty classroom, "You were asleep last night, so we waited until this morning."

"Did you stop the monster?"

"No way," Jake laughed and shook his head, "He kicked our asses."

Troy looked strangely to Noah, hoping the blue boy would think Jake's comment was a little out of place, but Noah share the same excitement as Jake, "What's going on?"

"You remember the Rangers from Panorama? The ninjas…?"

"Samurai," Troy corrected, "but yeah."

"White saved our asses!" Jake cried out excitedly. Troy grabbed his head again. At that moment, Emma and Jordan walked into the room. Emma held her hand out to Troy. He looked down and saw she had ear plugs. He took them without hesitating and put them in his ears. He let out a sigh of content. The world was still loud, but not every sound bothered him.

"Why are we meeting here?" Emma asked. She had received a text from Noah, and unaware it was Ranger business she told Jordan he could tag along.

Noah, fortunately, could adapt, "We were just talking about the Ranger battle last night. Only two of them showed up."

"Apparently, they got their asses kicked," Troy said with a smirk as she looked to Emma. She chuckled. Jake gave both his friends a glare.

"What's so great about that?" Jordan asked, "If the monsters are getting stronger, and the Rangers can't keep up, aren't we in trouble."

"We got help," Jake blurted out and then realized his mistake. It was an easy fix, "A Ranger from out of town showed up and helped ours. The white Ninja Ranger."

"Samurai," Troy corrected him again, "Ninjas are another team."

Jake turned to the red Ranger who shrugged and pointed to his head, reminding Jake of his dreams. The black Ranger rolled his eyes, "Whatever, this _Samurai_ kicked ass. She was amazing!"

"She?" Emma smirked proudly, "Well, I guess I can't complain when there's another girl out there kicking butt and taking names. Any idea who she could be?"

Noah and Jake both shook their heads just as the bell rang. The door to the classroom opened and Serena poked her head inside, "You're all going to be late for class if you don't get a move on."

The students rushed off to their class while Serena stayed in the halls. Her duty as Gia's babysitter meant she had to follow Gia around. Sadly, Gia was still in the hospital, under the watchful eye of the doctors and her parents.

Serena wasn't a therapist herself. In her own school back in Panorama, she was more of a friend to many of the students. They could share their concerns with her, knowing she could be trusted, and she would guide them through their problems. Tackling Gia's situation was a little tough, but Serena would do all she could to help.

She decided to continue working in the school while Gia recovered. When she came back, she would need a safe space. Teenagers could be especially cruel to each other and extremely insensitive to the feelings of others. The fact of the matter was that most teenagers had little experience. A crushing break-up or parents divorcing was usually the most they had to worry about, and while those could also be devastating, it paled in comparison to some other problems that existed. Some none of them had ever lived through and therefore couldn't imagine just how deeply the wounds could go. Simple words, even if said in jest, could be extremely damaging to a classmate who was struggling with an emotional issue as sensitive as Gia's.

And Gia had been hurt enough. She didn't need to hear comments from her classmates – people she had essentially grown up with. She didn't need the boys hitting on her, calling her names, or thinking that her vulnerability was their chance to score with her. She didn't need girls calling her a whore, saying she deserved what she got, or spreading rumours.

So when she heard two seniors walking down the hall during their free period gossiping about what they heard to explain Gia's absence, Serena cut in between them.

"So, what are we talking about?"

The girls looked to her with disgust. Serena didn't like to think of herself as old, but there was an obvious age difference between her and the high school students that made her stand out. She couldn't blend in with the crowd, couldn't pass herself off as another student, which meant when she tried to cut in to their conversations, she got the same looks she used to give her mother when she had been a little too nosy.

She had gotten used to it though. The trick to teenagers was to never show a weakness in a war.

"Nothing."

"Keep it that way," Serena said, "And next time you do go around gossiping about another student's private life, imagine you were spilling all your own secrets. So, were we headed to the library?"

"Um, we weren't headed anywhere."

"College is right around the corner for you girls. The library would be a good place to go," Serena walked with them all the way to the library doors and then waved goodbye to them as they walked inside.

"Who was that?" one girl whispered to the other. Serena chuckled. She did like messing with the kids sometimes. However, she knew she had to do something about all the talk. It was okay for kids to be curious about these situations. It was how they learned, but spreading around false information, or claiming a girl deserved being mistreated by a boy, or even vice-versa, was dangerous.

Serena needed to think of something she could do to get the message across. Something that would open the eyes of the students so that when Gia returned she wouldn't have to deal with anymore harassment. In fact, if possible, none of the students would have to worry about being kicked when they were down. Life wasn't perfect, but there was no reason it couldn't be just a little better.


	26. The Tiger

While her friends were at school, Gia was alone in her hospital room. Her parents had wanted to stay with her, but when they called in sick for work their bosses wouldn't take it. Neither of them had even been very generous with vacation and sick days in the past. Gia remembered having to cut a vacation short because her father's boss had called him in from work and threatened to dock his pay significantly if he couldn't come in.

Gia's parents weren't tough like she pretended to be, so they usually gave in. This time was no exception, but Gia didn't mind. She wanted to be alone. No one was asking her how she was feeling, or if she was ready to talk. Her parents were worried, and naturally had a lot of questions. They had sat with her as she told the police what they needed to hear to arrest Cliff, but she had stuck to the fact. She told them what had happened, not how it made her feel, and not what she thought of herself now.

She stared down at her hands and clenched them. She was a lie. Since Cliff had first appeared in her life, she had changed drastically. Now, he had destroyed her twice, torn her part until there was nothing left of her. The first time she had been just a kid – only fifteen – too stupid to understand what love really was and what love meant. She hadn't had time to grow or find herself. Two years later only meant two more years of her life were gone. She had put up so many walls since Cliff had first abandoned her that even she didn't know who she really was. She didn't play sports, she wasn't a member of any club, and didn't show any interest in anything that was purely her own. Occasionally she rode on her BMX bike with Emma, but that wasn't her passion. She did it to be with her friend. That was a part of Emma.

Gia thought of Emma. The little girl she had always known had always been a little timid. She had been shoved into the background because she was always next to Gia, and everyone seemed to pale in comparison to Gia. But Emma had everything figured out. Someone had noticed her. Jordan knew it was Emma who shone brightly and he treated her with respect. He treated her in a way that made Gia jealous. No one respected and cared for Gia in the way Jordan did Emma. Jordan saw a human being in Emma. Every boy who tried to get Gia's attention saw a body.

Emma had interests, and though she sometimes doubted herself, she did have skills. BMX was hard, and though Emma had many spills, some of which had landed her in the hospital in her childhood, she had never been scared away from her bike. When she took pictures, they always turned out beautiful. Gia never once found herself hating a picture of Emma's, and not because of the bias of Emma being her best friend and not wanting to hurt her feelings. Emma was genuinely an amazing photographer, and would have no trouble getting into a college if that was what she wanted to do.

Emma was also incredibly smart. Her math skills could use a little improving, but she was far from being the bottom of the class. She was talented in the arts – mostly due to her passion for photography – and her love of nature meant she did very well in her science courses. Anything she could learn about nature and the world and the way everything worked, she would learn. Even if it took hours of studying and tutoring, Emma always found a way to reach her goals.

And her passion to protect the earth, though it irritated Gia from time to time, was still very admirable. She did what few people could do. She not only talked the talked about going green. She lived it. Big businesses in the city had listened to some of her speeches and in a matter of weeks had gone a little greener. All because a seventeen year old girl had stood up to them and showed them it was possible to protect the planet and their bank accounts.

Gia felt like nothing compared to Emma. The pink Ranger was beautiful, strong, brave, passionate, determined, and smart. She knew who she was, where she wanted to go, and wouldn't settle for anything less. Compared to her, Gia was just an empty shell. It was no wonder guys like Cliff, Mick, Alex, and all the other boys at school thought they could mistreat her. It seemed to be all she was good for.

A knock on her door pulled her from her thoughts. Her parents promised to stop by for lunch and thinking it was them, she lay back down in her bed and pretended to sleep. Instead, she heard a nervous laugh.

"I use that trick on my parents all the time," it was Jake's voice. Gia sat up and looked to her friend curiously. She knew he hated hospital, and though he had been to one with her recently, this time was very different. She was badly hurt. She looked like she had just been in an accident, with her bruises and the scars all over her body. Jake had lost a lot of his family to a car accident, and they had all died in hospital. Even when their prognosis was starting to turn around, something always went wrong.

"You came?"

"I told the others I was going home for lunch," Jake nodded his head. He grabbed a chair and brought it over to the bed. He took a seat, "How are you?"

Gia shrugged her shoulders, "You didn't have to come. I get it…"

"I'll have to face my fears sometime, right?" Jake said, "I mean, I'm a Power Ranger now. I'll probably wind up here in the near future."

"I hope not," Gia whispered. Jake looked to her with a little smile.

"Outside of our very touching bonding moments, I think that's the closest you've come to caring for me."

"Don't get used to it," Gia smirked. "Seriously, Jake, if this is too much…"

"You're going to be okay, right?"

"Doctors say yes. I'm just here so they can keep an eye on me. You know, in case…"

"Something comes up," Jake knew it very well. He nodded his head slowly and sighed, "So Cliff really… he threw you out of a window?"

"I told him I'd rather jump out the window than sleep with him again so… I guess I got my wish."

Jake had a look around the room, "Where are your parents? Lunch, or…"

"They had to work. Their bosses have always sucked. But I don't mind."

"Then I guess it's good I stopped by," Jake said. "I had a feeling you were probably lonely. Oh, by the way, I got you this."

He reached into his bag and pulled out a stuffed tiger. He placed it beside Gia on the bed.

"I know tough girls don't cuddle up with soft, plushy kitty-cats," Jake teased her, "but I thought Tigger could keep you company at night or whatever. That's usually the worst time after stuff like this. I don't know what it is about the dark that just makes everything see so much worse."

Gia looked at the tiger and then held it out to Jake, "I can't do this, Jake. I'm not… you can't just…"

"What?" Jake looked genuinely confused, "Gia, it's a get well soon present. I thought of finding a video or something of Emma beating up Cliff so you could watch his defeat over and over again, but the tiger isn't as scary and it's cuddly, and it's you."

"It's my Zord. I'm nothing."

"What do you mean?" Jake asked. "Look, Emma kicked Cliff's ass, I'm not taking that away from her, but you took him down. It's because of you that scumbag's behind bars. That takes a lot of guts, Gia."

"I told the truth. I don't…"

"Me walking into a hospital is scary," Jake said and held out his shaky hand to show Gia just how nervous he still was, "You confessing about what happened. How you suffered because of Cliff, and standing up to show the world just how big an asshole the guy really is takes real bravery. He was the school legend. People loved him! No one would have known he was a bad guy. If you think about it, you've probably just saved countless girls from having to suffer the way you have. Those girls would have fallen right into his trap. You're a hero, Gia."

Just as Jake finished saying this his morpher went off. Gia heard hers go to, but she was in no condition to fight. She looked to Jake.

"It's probably just that monster from before," he said to her, "He makes music that hurts people. We'll stop him, don't worry."

Jake got up and gave Gia's hand a gentle squeeze, "I meant it, Gia, what you did was really brave. I think you are just as tough as you pretend to be. No guy messes with you and gets away with it."

Gia sighed and shook her head. She couldn't believe him. Jake believed in her though, and his smile showed it.

"We're all planning on coming by tonight. After we defeat this monster for sure. I'll bring a movie or something. We can all just chill. Oh, and the really scary part for me comes now. My relatives always had a turn for the worst after I've visited so stay strong, okay?"

"Jake…"

"Promise me you'll stay strong," Jake said to her as he started to run to the door. Gia nodded her head.

"Go kick monster ass, Jake. I'll be here when you and the others get back."

Jake smiled as he rushed out of the room. Gia watched him go and hugged the tiger to her chest.


	27. Pink's Melody

Having ear plugs in meant Troy and Emma could join the battle. Though the ear plugs couldn't block out all the noises, they did a good job at keeping out most. Both Rangers still felt a headache, but could resist the pain enough to battle the monster.

Jake and Noah stuck to their original plan. If they couldn't hear the monster's music, it couldn't affect them. So they listened to their own music, with their headphones on under their helmets. Like the ear plugs, they weren't perfect, but they were enough to prevent Jake and Noah from being hit and suffering the same fate as Troy and Emma.

The monster had decided to set up a concert in the park. The Rangers arrived in time for the set up and watched as Dizchord used Loogies to get the stage ready for his performance. They overheard a bit of what he said to the Loogies and turned to each other.

"If he performs worldwide…"

"He's not going to," Troy interrupted Jake, "We'll need something. Something that'll stop him from making any more sound. Gosei?"

"I'm afraid there are no cards for that," Gosei answered. Troy sighed.

"We'll come up with something," he said, "For now, just avoid his sound waves."

The Rangers nodded and rushed down to the stage. A Loogie spotted them, and just as he tried to point them out to Dizchord, something else blasted at them from the side. The Rangers turned and saw another monster standing on top of the building that encompassed Dizchord's stage. Noah recognized him immediately. He had shown himself briefly once before, and had been the first alien to look nothing like an insect. In fact, he seemed to look more like human than anything else.

"I am the mastermind behind this plan," he announced, "Now listen as we transfer Dizchord's music and wipe out the whole world!"

On the stage, Dizchord grabbed the mic and smiled excitedly, "Aha! That's my manager! Let's get this concert started!"

Dizchord started to play on his guitar shaped body and music filled the air. The microphone standing before him picked up on the awful sound and made the horrible music even louder.

Emma and Troy both clutched their heads and fell to their knees. Dizchord had gotten them once in a surprize blast and their ears had been sensitive to even the smallest sounds since. Even with the plugs in their ears, they could still hear the music loud and clear and it hurt.

"We've got to shut him up, Jake," Noah said to his best friend. Jake nodded but as the two tried to run to the stage, Vrak jumped down from the top of the building and distracted them.

Vrak was stronger that any monster the Rangers had faced before, and though it was two against one in their favour, the advantage still seemed to rest on Vrak. His swung his staff at them, slashing them aside one at a time to keep them from teaming up against him.

Troy looked up, though every move was painful, and saw Jake and Noah were taking a beating. He wanted to get up and help, but he couldn't will his body to do so. He couldn't even tear his hands away from his ears. The music was hurting him from the inside out.

"Jake and Noah aren't affected," Emma shouted over the music so Troy would hear her, and looked painfully at him as she did, "Why aren't they affected?"

Troy turned to Emma, and then back to the boys. She had brought up a good point. The music was so loud, and spreading its painful sound waves worldwide, and yet Jake and Noah didn't seemed to be hurt by it at all. All the damage they were taking was caused by Vrak. It didn't make any sense, though. Emma and Troy had ear plugs, and Noah and Jake and headphones. Both blocked out the bad sound.

But only one played music – real music.

"It's their music," Troy turned to Emma, "Dizchord's music is awful, but they hear their own stuff. They're hearing real songs. Emma, do you have your Ipod?"

"I don't."

Troy pat himself down, hoping to feel the device concealed somewhere on him through the Ranger suit, but then remembered he had left his in his bag at school.

"We need music. Real music can counter this monster's sounds."

"How do you know?"

"Sing!"

"What?" Emma looked to Troy like he was crazy. She never sang publicly. Troy was the first person to catch her singing to herself and the only person who knew she could sing.

"You need to sing. You've got a great voice Emma. It'll drown out this noise."

"I don't have a loud voice," Emma said, "No one's going to hear it."

"Then I'll have to…" Troy tried to push himself up to his feet. He wanted to block out the noise as best as he could to take on Dizchord, steal the mic from him and give it to Emma so her sound would overpower the noise. But he fell to his knees, too hurt to move at all.

However, a bright, white light appeared before him and a microphone grew out of the ground. Troy stared at it for a moment curiously, but then decided not to question it. He snatched it up and handed it to Emma.

"Here."

"Do you just conveniently carry a microphone around?" Emma asked as she took it.

"Just sing. You have a beautiful voice."

Emma nodded her head. She gulped slightly and looked to Jake and Noah. They were doing the best they could against Vrak, but they didn't look like they could take much more. She knew she needed to sing.

"_Flowers bloom, bloom and share your sweet perfume._

"_Flowers bloom, bloom, so many things to see;_

"_The sweet serenity,_

"_Sooth my mind,_

"_Sooth my soul."_

The microphone made Emma's voice loud enough to hear and it was Dizchord's turn to hold his head and play. With his hands over his ears, he couldn't play his guitar and his music stopped.

"Keep singing, Emma!" Troy told her as he pushed himself up to his feet and ran to the stage. He fought through the Loogies that tried to keep him away and ran to the transmitter that was sending the monster's music around the world. With a quick blast, the transmitter exploded.

"No!" Dizchord cried and dropped to his knees. Emma's song was painful to hear. The guitars on his chest started to spark. Dizchord was being destroyed by the music, "Vrak! Help!"

Vrak turned away from the battle with the Rangers long enough for Jake and Noah to team up against him, blasting him from the battle. Seeing Dizchord so close to destruction and the Rangers coming together to fight, Vrak knew he had to leave. He picked himself up and turned away from the battle.

Dizchord let out a piercing cry as Emma reached the end of her song. Troy lunged for the monster with his Dragon Sword. One slice was all it took to finish him off.

"Emma," Noah ran over to her once the battle was done, "That was beautiful."

Emma blushed beneath her helmet, "Thanks. I guess the monster blowing up from my song is a good thing."

"A very good thing," Troy looked over to her from the stage. "My headache's gone. Yours?"

"I'm fine."

A little ways off, Serena stood and watched the Rangers. When the monster had turned up, she ran to the battlefield, but decided this time to let the Rangers do the work for themselves, and only to jump in if she needed to. She had given them a bit of help by making a microphone appear with her Symbol Power, but was proud to see the new team figured out a way to defeat the monster for themselves – and they had done so shorthanded. She didn't know why the yellow Ranger hadn't shown, but there had to be a reason she would miss two battles in a row, especially when things looked so bleak for her teammates.

However, the Megaforce team pulled through, and that gave Serena confidence that they could take care of themselves and the planet.

Before the Rangers could power down, and Serena could find out who they were, she turned away and headed off. She didn't want to know who this team was, and she didn't want them to know her. It would only mean more chaos.


	28. Stupid

Jordan always hated monster attacks in the city. Not because they were inconvenient or because they put his life in danger, but because he could never find Emma. He was always terrified she had been close to the monster when it attacked, and that she was hurt or worse. It terrified him to think of what could happen.

Fortunately, no harm had come to her yet. When the monster attack was over and the loud, painful music stopped, the school let the students out so they could go home. Jordan raced outside, hoping he would find Emma in the crowd of people and he did. She, Troy, Jake, and Noah were sitting on the tables just outside the school. They looked like they were waiting for him. Jordan breathed a sigh of relief and took a seat beside Emma. He gave her a quick hug.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Emma nodded. "You?"

"Fine."

"We should get to the hospital," Jake said. "Gia's expecting us, and that monster's noise travelled pretty far. We should make sure she's okay."

-Megaforce-

Gia watched the news on TV as it covered the Ranger's battle. She knew they had won, and she was happy the monster hadn't been able to hurt her friends. It was tough being forced to sit on the sidelines and watch her friends run into battle without her, but they had done a good job.

A knock on her door turned her attention away from the TV. She turned it off. Her parents didn't want her watching the news, worried stories of Cliff would show up, and worried all the violence that the news covered would scare Gia. She already wouldn't talk to them about what she had been through. They didn't need to add anything more to their daughter's list of nightmares.

It wasn't her parents who came, but her team and Jordan. She gave them all a little smile when she saw them and sat up in her bed. Naturally, Emma came over beside her, and stole the chair Jake had been using when he came to visit her over lunch. Gia took her best friend's hand but smiled at Jake.

"Doctors said I should be going home tomorrow."

Jake gave her a little nod, and she could see some relief in his eyes. Emma's hand squeezed her gently.

"The monster attacking the city made a terrible sound. You didn't hear it, did you?"

"I did," Gia said and could remember twisting around her bed in pure agony. She had had a headache before the monster's music started playing, and his horrible noise had only made things worse. Fortunately, her friends had found a way to defeat him quickly, "The pink Ranger's song was a nice fix, though. I had no idea she could sing."

Emma blushed, but tried to hide it from Jordan. He didn't know he was in a room with the Power Rangers and she wanted it to stay that way, fearing that his knowing could lead him into trouble with the dangerous aliens.

"How are you feeling?" Troy shifted the attention over to the Ranger in the bed. Gia looked down with a sigh. She really didn't want to talk about what had happened. She knew they knew. She knew they had been there to rescue her from Cliff. She knew all about the beating Emma had given him, and how the boys had to tear her away. She knew Jake had come to her side, but when the ambulance showed up to take her away, he had been too scared to come. She knew Emma jumped right into the back with her, and held her hand the entire way to the hospital. She knew they had been there for her, she knew they cared, but she couldn't bring herself to share anything. It was too soon and it hurt too much. She couldn't open herself up to them and risk getting hurt again. She knew it was silly. They were friends. They would never hurt her. But she couldn't get over the fear.

And anyways, would they really care? If Cliff had shown her anything it was how weak she was. What would they think if she told them she, the yellow Power Ranger, couldn't take on another human? She fought aliens. They put their lives in her hands daily. They needed her to be strong enough to face the meanest, nastiest, strongest of monsters.

Yet Cliff could defeat her with ease, and Mick and Alex had outsmarted her without really trying. If she couldn't defend herself against them, what was she doing as yellow Ranger? What was the point of keeping her around? Or of even giving a damn about what happened to her. If she told them how weak, stupid, and vulnerable she was, they would know they had to protect her constantly, and they couldn't afford that. They had lives of their own, problems of their own. They didn't need to waste their time on her.

She hesitated to answer and felt Emma give her hand a comforting squeeze.

"Gia… it's okay."

Gia shook her head then turned away to look out the window. She wanted them to leave. Before she could tell them that, though, there was a knock on her door. Serena walked in. It didn't take her long to guess the feel of the room and see Gia was upset about something, and it was causing her friends to be concerned. Serena held the door open.

"I'm craving ice-cream."

The boys got the message that it was time to leave. Serena's job was to help Gia in the school, but it seemed she had taken her job home with her, and was making visits. Figuring Serena would do no more damage than themselves – at worst – the boys walked out.

Emma stuck by Gia, "You're not going to talk to me, are you?"

"I'm sorry," Gia whispered.

"Talk to Serena, please," Emma begged softly, "Tell her everything and if you don't want to, we never have to speak of this, ever… just… say something to her, okay?"

Tears stung at Gia's eyes. Emma squeezed her hand.

"You're my best friend. You always have been, and always will be. I love you and I want to see you get over this. We'll meet at Ernie's tomorrow and whatever you want to do; we'll do it, okay.'

Gia nodded slowly. Emma gave her a hug before she walked out with tears in her eyes. Serena took a seat beside the bed. It was her first visit with an awake Gia since the incident, and the first chance they had to talk after Gia walked away with Cliff the day before. It was a little awkward. Fortunately, Serena knew what to say.

"I haven't seen a group of people that caring since my own group of friends. We'd do anything for each other, and no matter what, we're always there for each other when it counts. I know, if ever I have a problem, I can talk to any of them about it and they'll help. You can talk to your friends. I know they're good people."

Gia looked out the window. Serena sighed.

"Did I tell you about my douchebag boyfriend? How he threatened my friends and my family. How his wife came after me and almost killed me several times. How one time, she beat me up so badly, I was stuck in a wheelchair for a couple of months. I've always prided myself on my strength, but my ex, and his wife especially, made me feel so weak, pathetic, and stupid, that I hated my life and myself? I know pain, Gia, I know you're hurting. Just give me one word of how you're feeling, and that's it for today."

Gia turned away from the window and looked at Serena, "You were in a wheelchair?"

"And not for rest," Serena answered, "I was paralyzed from the waist down. I couldn't walk. I had to depend on my friends, my sister, our dog. You can't begin to understand how pathetic that can make someone feel. You think, it's just a wheelchair. You can still move around on your own. But it's so much more than that. Things people take for granted, like opening doors, become so difficult, it's easier just to stay inside."

"But you're walking."

"The damage wasn't permanent," Serena explained, "I was lucky enough to be alive, and even luckier to have a full recovery. It wasn't easy. I fell a lot."

"Why… why did your boyfriend's wife come after you?"

"Some people are bad news, Gia," Serena said, "There's nothing you can do to change them. You get involved with the wrong guy and suddenly your whole world is turned upside down. You think you know better than the people who try to warn you about him because you think you know him. Too late do you realize how wrong you are."

Gia nodded her head. She knew that feeling. Serena got out of the chair and sat beside Gia on the bed. She took her hand.

"I couldn't walk. I couldn't put any weight on my legs for weeks. I almost gave up on myself. My now husband asked me to marry him, and I refused because I didn't believe a guy like him could ever care for someone as broken and pathetic as I felt. I nearly lost everything I loved, and everyone I cared about. That would have hurt so much more. You know when things started to turn around for me?"

Gia shook her head, but looked up to Serena curiously. For once, Serena had her attention. She smiled.

"I believed in myself. I believed I was better than those negative thoughts I had. I stopped telling myself I was stupid, weak, and pathetic. After that, my recovery shocked doctors.

"But what if…" Gia started and then turned away. Serena wrapped one arm around her shoulders.

"I felt very similar to the way you do now," she assured the younger girl, "and I was lucky enough to have friends who believed so strongly in me. From what I've seen, and what I've heard of you, Gia, you are such an amazing young woman. I'm going to show you that."

Gia sniffed and shook her head. Serena gave her a hug.

"You've already shown some strength. It takes a lot of courage to speak up against Cliff. I'm so proud of you."

Gia leaned into Serena's arms, "My one word today: stupid. I feel stupid."

"It's okay," Serena whispered.


	29. A Bomb Is Dropped

Emma's visit to the hospital left her feeling a little disappointed. She wanted to help Gia and stand by her side through everything, but felt as though she was being pushed away. It was a hard pill to swallow knowing her best friend didn't want her help, but if what Emma had seen when she said goodbye to Gia was anything to go on, she could see Serena had made a little bit of progress with her. The two had been sitting on the bed and watching TV. Gia didn't look like she was saying anything, but Emma knew she felt comfortable with Serena. As Jordan had told her on the walk home, it was a good thing she was willing to talk to anyone. Sometimes, the best friend was too personal.

"She'll come out of this," Jordan gave Emma a kiss as he walked her to her door. "She may not be asking for it, but I'm sure she's counting on your support."

Emma smiled up at him and then opened the door to her house. She was surprised to find the lights were on. Then she saw the suitcases by the door. Her parents were home.

Jordan looked somewhat nervous, but couldn't take off running now. He stayed with Emma as he parents came from the living room.

"Where have you been?" her mother asked her. Emma shot her a curious look. Surely they would have heard the news.

"Visiting Gia," Emma answered. Her mother showed no care and gestured up the stairs.

"You need to pack."

"Pack?" they were words her parents had never said to her before. They travelled constantly, but always left Emma at home. For once, she thought they had found somewhere to take her.

"There's a beautiful place in New York," her father said to her with a little smile, "I was offered a job in the city."

"New York?" Emma gulped and looked to Jordan. If her parents were saying what she dreaded they were saying, she wouldn't know what to do. One thing was certain: she couldn't move. She had her whole life in Harwood County. She had a year and a half of school left before she graduated. All her childhood memories were in the city, and all her friends lived nearby. Moreover, her best friend needed her desperately, and abandoning her at this time would probably be the final push Gia needed to completely self-destruct.

Though that in itself was enough reason for Emma to want to stay, she had responsibilities as a Ranger. There was absolutely no way she could fulfill her duties as the pink Ranger from New York City.

Her mother smiled happily, "We took the job! There's a raise for your father, his company takes the mortgage for a house if find a place by the end of the month, and your father will be a very important man! Go get your things, sweetheart; this time next week, we're going to…"

Emma turned and ran. She would not move. She could not move. This was not going to happen.

Jordan stood in the doorway and scratched the back of his neck nervously, "Uh… I'm going to make sure she's okay."

Jordan took off after Emma. He did his best to keep up with her but she had taken her bike from the side of the house and so was a lot faster than he could hope to be. He sighed, shook his head, and sent her a message on your phone.

"_Text me when you get wherever so I know you're okay."_

He put his phone in his pocket and watched her leave. He didn't want her to move for personal reasons, but Emma had so much on her plate with what had happened to Gia, Jordan could understand why this was hard for her to hear.

He knew her parents weren't around for her much. They loved to travel and often left her behind. When they talked, Emma mentioned Gia's parents more than her own, so Jordan got the impression that she spent more time with Gia's family. But her parents were still her parents, and if they wanted to move and take their daughter with them, Emma had no choice in the matter.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. It was a message from Emma. He breathed a sigh of relief when she told him where she was headed and he promised to meet up with her there.

He had to walk all the way back to the hospital and he wasn't sure how he would get in. Visiting hours were over and he wasn't Gia's family. When he got there, he heard a whisper and turned to the bushes. He walked over slowly just to be safe.

"Jordan!" another whisper from above. He looked up at the trees and saw Emma sitting on the branch above him. He decided he would climb up with her. Emma chuckled slightly at his clumsy tree climbing skills. He was big, he was strong, and he was athletic, but that was no help to him in this particular challenge. She wrapped an arm around him to steady him as he sat on the branch and tried to find his balance. When he was sure he wouldn't fall, he turned to Emma.

"What a bomb."

"Sorry for running off," Emma said, "My parents just… they don't get it. I knew if I tried to talk them out of moving it would just cause a scene."

"There's Skype and stuff," Jordan suggested. "I know it's not ideal for us or for you and Gia, but it's better than the olden days, right?"

"Better than wasting paper writing letters back and forth," Emma nodded her head. Jordan gave her a little nudge.

"Wow, you're not even giving up the environment thing for romance."

Emma shook her head, "It's not something we need to worry about. I'm not moving."

"That's not really your decision to make," Jordan sighed. He shrugged his shoulders, "Your parents…"

"I've been living on my own for years anyways," Emma said, "You heard mom, dad's company going to buy him a house, so it's not like keeping this one will be extra costs. And dad's going to make a fortune anyways."

"You really have no problem with them leaving you behind? My dad's one of my best buds. I couldn't imagine not having him around."

"I've got too much waiting for me here. Too many responsibilities."

"Gia?"

"Among other important things," Emma said. "If I tell her, she'd be devastated. I couldn't… I couldn't do that to her."

"Your best friend over your parents?"

"You don't get it, Jordan, Gia's been a bigger part of my life than my parents. I'm pretty sure she's the one who talk me to walk."

"Seriously?"

"Our parents have been friends since before we were born. You know, if one of us was born a guy, we'd probably be madly in love with each other by now. Classic love story."

Jordan chuckled and took Emma in his arms, "Thankfully you're not."

Emma nodded, "Gia learned to walk before I did, apparently, and she used that skill to steal a cookie from me. I got frustrated when she taunted me with it, so I used my feet to go after her. Mom and dad weren't even around. They were in the Caribbean. Gia's parents were babysitting. It wouldn't change much."

Jordan sighed and gave Emma a kiss on the top of the head, "This is your decision. Whatever you choose, I support you."

Emma looked up at Jordan, "I choose home but… in case my parents decide to kidnap me, can you promise me something? Two some things?"

"Yeah, anything," Jordan nodded. Emma leaned away from him.

"I don't know what I'd do without you, Jordan. You make me feel really special and you're such an amazing guy…"

"We'll make the long distance thing work," Jordan promised her without hesitating. It'll just be for a year and a half, then you could move out, come back here, and it would be like you never left."

Emma smiled. Jordan really was amazing to her and she wanted the chance to spend more time with him and to get to know him better. She wanted the chance to make him feel the way he made her feel, because it was truly one of the most amazing feelings in the world. To know he wouldn't give up on her, just because they were miles apart made him all the more special. She leaned back in and gave him a kiss.

When they pulled apart, Jordan looked to her, "What else do you need?"

"Keep an eye on Gia for me. You know… if I leave."

"Promise," Jordan nodded and then gave her another kiss. They sat in the tree together, in each other's harm for a long time until Emma shifted and Jordan could tell she was ready to go somewhere. He let her go and was surprise when she climbed higher up the tree. "Em?"

"I've got to be with Gia. You can come in, if you want. I'm sure she won't mind."

"It's fine," Jordan knew he couldn't go much higher. Emma was smaller, lighter, and more agile than he was. Climbing trees came easily to her. And he knew how much she cared for her best friend. He knew she needed to be with her. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I may not be at school. Mom and dad will know to find me there," Emma told him, "but meet us at Ernie's afterwards. I promised Gia we would go there and we would do what she wanted. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if…"

"Take care of her, Emma. We're not going anywhere. I'll hang with the guys."

"Are you sure?"

Jordan nodded and he gave her a smile, "I'm sure."

Emma looked down at him, "You're really amazing, Jordan."

"I know," he smirked teasingly. Emma blew him a kiss before she reached Gia's window. Gia liked to sleep with a window open. Some of her best memories were camping with Emma as a kid, and she had grown to love the sounds of the night to the point where she couldn't fall asleep without them. Fortunately, that meant Emma had easy access into her room.

Once she was inside, Jordan climbed down the tree and headed for home. He was sure, no matter what happened, he and Emma weren't going to be torn apart.


	30. Take A Stand

Jake was at school the following morning and he got there early for soccer practice with the team. Though he didn't like some of the players his love of the sport kept him from quitting. He took a ball to himself and started to dribble up and down the field. Since his "accidental" goal against his own team in the game with Panorama, none of his teammates really wanted to practice with him.

This was fine by him. Mick and Alex had taken advantage of Gia, but everyone else, when they found out, had laughed and cheered them, showing their approval of drugging a teenage girl to get her in their bed. Jake couldn't respect that.

He heard laughter on the field and ignored it. The team was a close knit group and they usually shared a few jokes during practice. However, after a while, Jake started to feel like something was off. He kicked the ball up into his hands and walked over to the rest of the team as they sat in a circle to look at something. When Jake came over, the boys tried to get a newspaper out of sight. Jake was too fast for them, and snatched the paper from the goalie's hands. He flipped through the pages, trying to see what could have been hilarious.

"C'mon, Holling," Alex chuckled as Jake reached the page, "the bitch turned you down more than anyone. It's got to feel good knowing she got what she deserved."

Jake crumbled the page up and tossed it on the field. He turned away from his teammates without a word. Alex jumped up and went after him. He wrapped an arm around Jake's shoulder and walked with him.

"I mean, she's like, the hottest girl in school and by not sharing that around with us, she's just a big tease. Here's the trick Holling, if you want in, you've got to force your way. Secretly, she digs it. All chicks…"

Jake shoved Alex. He pushed him into the ground and walked away. As he headed for the school he took off his jersey. He didn't care how much he loved the sport. As long as the rest of his team spoke and thought the way they did, he didn't want to be associated with them. He didn't want to call them his teammates.

He walked to his locker, pulled out another shirt and slipped it on. As he pulled his head through, he felt a tap on the shoulder. He turned and saw Serena was looking at him.

"That's a lot of bruises."

"There's more push and shove in soccer than you think," Jake said to her. He had to find some way to explain away his black and blue body. He couldn't tell her he had spent the day before fighting off a monster as the black Ranger. His identity was secret.

"Is there anything you need to talk about?" Serena asked him. Jake was about to shake his head but then he stopped himself. He looked to Serena.

"How's Gia?"

"Feeling better. She's still got a long way to go, though," Serena answered honestly and then offered Jake a comforting smile, "She'll be fine."

"Not if she comes back here," Jake said. "People are saying she deserved it."

"I know. I'm working on something."

"Can you work a little faster?" Jake asked. "I mean, guys have been drooling over Gia since the very start of high school. I'm guilty of that. Before this, she had people asking her out or making comments about her looks and well… other stuff but… now that people know what happened I just… I get the feeling it'll be a lot worse. If people think she deserved it, how many guys are going to start pushing harder? She's going to break, Serena. If she's not already broken, coming here and hearing one word from one of the many scumbags is just going to tear her apart."

"I know," Serena nodded, "I'm working on it, Jake. And I know it seems like everyone here thinks that way about Gia, but I'm sure there are a lot of good guys here. Well intentioned guys."

"So?"

"Stand up. If you stand up, and if the others stand up, someone else might join you. The more people who say this isn't right, the more support you're going to get from Gia. You're a jock, right? You've got some influence. Take a stand and speak out for all the athletes in this school. Ask Noah to speak out for… well, the brains. Troy for… whoever he stands for. And Jordan can speak up for all the guys in this school who actually have a girl and care about her."

"Yeah, speaking up usually starts a food fight in the cafeteria," Jake said, "That's not…"

"Find a way to stand out, then."

Jake nodded his head and then looked to Serena curiously, "Got a shirt or something I can borrow?"

"What? What's wrong with your shirt?"

"Nothing. Can we trade?"

"Why?"

"Just… can we?"

"Jake, my shirt's maternity. You would look ridiculous if…"

"Please."

"Alright, make a fool of yourself," Serena rolled her eyes. Jake handed her his sweater from his locker and she walked into the bathroom to get changed. When she came out, she handed him her shirt. He slipped it on and instantly he received some strange looks from students and teachers alike.

Then he saw Troy, Noah, and Jordan coming down the halls and waved them over. They walked over, saw Jake in a woman's shirt and frowned.

"Jake, do we need to talk?" Noah asked him. Jake shook his head and looked to Jordan.

"Your sister's always got like, a billion shirts in her locker, right?"

"She changes between every period, yes," Jordan sighed in annoyance. Jake smirked.

"Think you could get three shirts from her?"

"If you're trying to get us to wear girly shirts…"

"For Gia," Jake said. He gave Serena a little smile before turning back to the boys, "We're taking a stand."

Jordan rolled his eyes, "I'll talk to her."

"Awesome!"

"Jake," Serena groaned and shook her head, "Have you thought this through?"

"Not really, but I don't usually," Jake said, "C'mon, it's this or a food fight."

"No, I get it," Serena smirked, "but girls don't really make a statement by wearing girl's clothing. What can I do?"

Jake tapped his chin as he thought about it, "Gia does like yellow, so maybe you girls can do something…"

"I'll be back by the end of first period," Serena smirked. Finding something to wear that was yellow was easy enough for her. All she had to do was go home and change.


	31. Won't Leave

Emma was there with Gia for the final check-up. When the doctor was satisfied that the risk of complications had significantly decreased, he signed the papers that would allow Gia's parents to take her home.

"You're already looking a lot better," Emma said with a smile as she helped Gia pack up the few things from her hospital room. "Does it still hurt to walk?"

"A little," Gia nodded. She spoke, but wouldn't say much. Generally she just answered questions and kept her words very basic. Even when Emma tried to get her to talk a little more, she would find a way to make the answer short, to the point, and not at all helpful for understanding her state of mind. Emma let out a sigh.

"Are you talking with Serena?"

"Yeah."

"Like, really talking? I just want to see you bounce back, Gia."

"Really talking," Gia answered. Emma sighed again, but at least it was something. She didn't like not knowing what was going on in Gia's head. Though the yellow Ranger seemed to be very closed off to everyone else, Emma had always been able to read her like a book. It was one of the reasons she had felt so guilty when she found out, too late, that Cliff had run into Gia.

"Good. Serena really wants to help, and I think she can."

"Are we going to Ernie's?"

Emma looked over and nodded her head, "Of course but… um…"

As she packed away the toy tiger Jake had given Gia, Emma started to feel nervous. She and Gia never lied to each other and they never kept secrets. Of course, there were a few exceptions. Gia had kept her run in with Cliff a secret from Emma out of fear, and had lied about it the other day. That was a big secret, but Emma could let it slide. She knew Gia, and she knew what Cliff could do to her.

Emma had also lied. Her sore ribs reminded her constantly of her lie, and how it had cost Gia. She had run into Cliff, she knew he had been in town, and she hadn't said anything about him. A part of Emma believed it was her fault Gia got caught, and her fault Gia had to suffer all over again. She was so thankful nothing had happened to Gia, and couldn't imagine the weight of the guilt she would have felt had Cliff gone any further.

"What's wrong?" the tables were turning slightly. Gia was starting to ask the questions now, and Emma felt nervous about answering, but she couldn't think of her feelings. Gia deserved the truth, no matter how much it would hurt Emma to admit.

"I saw Cliff the other day."

"I know you beat him up," Gia said and there was a little smile on her face. It only hurt Emma more. She took the tiger from the bag and held it out for Gia to take. She was sure this would be something that came between them and at the very least she wanted Gia to have someone with her.

"Cliff… Cliff cracked my ribs. I told you it was a Loogie because I thought I could protect you. I thought he would get bored trying to look for you and move on. We both know he doesn't really care about you."

"Why… why did he crack your ribs?"

"You know how he is," Emma shrugged. "I told him you moved away. I told him I wouldn't tell him where you were or give him your number. I said no to him."

"He… you… He could have killed you, Emma!" Gia threw the tiger on to the bed and glared at her best friend. Emma hadn't been expecting this reaction at all and took a little step back. "You see him, you run! What if he had hurt you? What if he had decided to settle for you instead of me? Unless you're leaving dents in his face, Em, I don't want you going near him!"

"Gia…?"

"I can handle being lost," Gia shook her head as her anger turned to tears; "I can handle hating myself. I can handle this, Em. I can do this. I just… I can't lose my best friend. I don't know how you can do it, but I know I can't."

Emma took Gia in her arms and held her warmly, "I'm sorry, Gia."

Gia hugged Emma tightly, "Don't go near him again. Please, Em."

"So… you're not mad?"

"I'm pissed," Gia whispered, "but don't you dare leave me."

Emma gave Gia a squeeze and then let out another sigh. She sat on the bed. Gia sat beside her.

"He… he didn't…"

"This isn't about Cliff anymore. Dad got job in New York."

Silence filled the room for a moment before Gia suddenly made a move to run. Emma caught her arm quickly and held her close.

"That's why I stayed here last night. I ran away."

"Em…"

"I'm pink Ranger. I can't move. You weren't at that last battle and we all felt it. We won, but it would have been a lot easier with your help. That can't be permanent."

"But your parents… you can't tell them that."

"They're moving. Dad's happy to get a promotion and mom apparently loves New York. I don't want to go with them."

"I'm sure Gosei can figure something out," Gia said, "You can't leave your parents just for this Ranger thing."

"The Ranger thing was actually the last thought on my mind," Emma said, "I don't want to go to New York, especially with you like this. You said it yourself, Gia, you don't want me to leave."

"What I want…"

"Matters to me," Emma interrupted her. "I would be a terrible friend, a terrible Ranger, and a terrible person if I left. I've made up my mind. I'm staying. Mom and dad can do what they want. It's not like they're around much anyways. I'm staying for the team, for Jordan, for you, and for myself."

Emma held Gia in her arms comfortingly, "You're not facing this alone, I promise."

A knock on the door pulled the girls apart. Gia's parents were back from signing the paperwork and listening to the doctor's instructions.

"Everything packed?" Mr. Moran asked.

"Dad… can Emma sleepover?"

"She can stay as long as she wants," Mr. Moran said and turned to his wife just to be sure she agreed.

Emma touched Gia's arm, "You don't…"

"How does a year and a half sound? You know, until graduation?"

"Sounds perfect," Mrs. Moran answered and it shocked the girls, "You were headed to Ernie's?" she continued casually.

The girls nodded their heads. They had a million questions for Gia's parents, but decided to accept the answer instead; worried that Gia's parents would change their mind if the matter was pushed.

They got up. Emma handed Gia's bag to Mr. Moran and then the girls walked out. Mr. Moran turned to his wife when they were gone.

"Jeff's always been my best friend, but he's also always been a lousy father."

Mrs. Moran nodded, "They try their best, but I think you're right. I think this is for the best."

"Should we stop by their place now to get Emma's stuff?"

Mrs. Moran took Gia's bag from her husband, "I'll drive this home. I told them you'd stop by. I'll bring the car around after I fix up the guest bedroom."


	32. Humiliated

Gia and Emma were talking at Ernie's over ice-cream, just hanging out like Emma had promised and like Gia wanted. There wasn't much else she could think of doing. She didn't have many interests. For the last two years she had spent all her time and energy trying to be tough and trying to push the boys away.

Given the stares she was receiving, a few people in the shop knew what had happened to her. Most looked sympathetic, some looked uncomfortable.

However, their attention shifted when Jake, Troy, Noah, Jordan, and Serena walked in. The boys were all wearing women's shirts and Serena was dressed head to toe in yellow. Emma couldn't contain a laugh, and Gia's jaw dropped. Jake sat beside her and wrapped one arm around her shoulder.

"You're probably wondering," he said, "I wake up with this hair."

Jordan sat down beside Emma and as he leaned in for a kiss, she leaned away.

"I'm pretty liberal," she said, "but do we need to talk?"

"The science club joined us. They borrowed a couple of shirts from the lost and found," Noah announced proudly.

"Half the girls in school pledged to wear yellow tomorrow," Serena added.

"All the male teachers are going to wear their wives shirts, or sister's, mom's, girlfriend's, you get the idea," Troy said.

"And some guys from various sport's teams are going to wear the girls' team jerseys to their next games," Jake said, "Why keep this stand confined to our school?"

"What stand?" Gia asked.

Jake gave her a gentle squeeze, "People are saying things at school. People who don't get it. We're going to show them they're outnumbered."

Noah pulled out his laptop, opened the page for the Harwood Social Hub, and showed it to Gia, "A page was started where people pledged to support you. More than half the school's already signed up."

"More than…" Gia took the laptop from Noah. She had to see for herself. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Noah's website hadn't been very popular, and he had been struggling for a while to get any interest. To hear half the school had signed up on a page of the Hub just in support of her was incredible.

"Turns out, most of the guys hitting on you really did like you," Jake said as Gia stared wide-eyed at the screen on the laptop.

"Jake had a great idea," Serena took Gia's hand and held her reassuringly, "In support of you, and to show sexual and physical assault will not be tolerate, and discrimination against women, is wrong, the boys will be wearing women's shirts and the girls will dress in yellow. Jake says it's your favourite colour."

Gia nodded her head and excused herself to the bathroom. Emma wanted to go after her, but instead turned to Serena. Serena knew how to get Gia to talk about whatever she was feeling. Emma was just the best friend. Gia would open up to her in time. So she sat at the table with the boys.

"Thank you," she whispered to them, "You're all so amazing."

"You'd do it for us," Troy said.

Jordan gave Emma a little nudge, "I hope you've got something yellow to wear. If you don't show some support for Gia, it's going to raise a lot of eyebrows."

"I'll be wearing a lot of yellow," Emma promised and then looked to Jordan, "I'll probably be borrowing something of Gia's."

"You don't have any yellow of your own?" Jordan asked. "That's odd. I mean, you look great in pink, but are you seriously going to wear it every day?"

Emma simply chuckled, "I'm not going home. I can't go home."

"What do you mean?" Noah asked. Emma breathed out a sigh.

"My parents are moving and… I'm not," she said. Jordan wrapped his arms around her. They had talked and he knew she didn't want to move. He knew she had made up her mind, and though she claimed it would be no different for her living away from her parents, he knew it still had to hurt.

"What do you mean, you're not?" Troy had moved several times growing up, and not by choice. Anywhere his parents went, he had to follow. Emma shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm just… I'm not going. I ran away last night and Gia's parents are going to let me stay."

"Aren't your parent best friends with her parents?" Noah asked. "Aren't you suspicious?"

"They can do what they want," Emma said, "I'm not going home. If Gia's parents are being sneaky I'll just… find somewhere else to go."

"Are you sure about this?" Troy looked concerned, "I mean, you're leaving your parents."

"They go on vacations so often, that me leaving them for a year and a half won't even begin to touch how long they've been gone for," Emma said, "If I go to New York with them, I'll just be alone in a different State. I need to be here, and I'd rather be here."

"She made up her mind," Jordan added, "We're not changing it."

"Well, then if Gia's parents are being sneaky, you have a home with me," Troy offered. Jake and Noah nodded their heads as well, and Jordan gave Emma a reassuring squeeze.

"Thanks, guys, well, girls."

-Megaforce-

Serena walked into the bathroom behind Gia. She saw the younger girl leaning over the sink and trying not to cry. She came over to her and placed a hand on her back.

"Word of the day?"

"I don't know," Gia shrugged her shoulders, "I… I thought for sure… how did this happen?"

"Some people are just bad people," Serena said, "I've learned that. But some people are good."

"I've never done anything for anyone," Gia said, "I keep to myself, I've rejected nearly every guy in this school at least once. I've rejected some of the girls. Most of the girls hate me because they think they know me. I don't even know me. Why are they doing this? Why do they want to help? What do they want from me?"

"Nothing," Serena took Gia in her arms, "They want nothing from you, Gia."

"Everyone wants something."

"It feels that way, I know it does."

"They're doing it for something," Gia pulled away and looked in the mirror. She saw the bruises on her face and was reminded that they were everywhere. Her hands started to shake, "I owe them…"

"Nothing."

"Yes, I do!" Gia shouted. "They're doing this because they know they'll get something out of it. Why would they help me? Why would they waste their time on me? I'm nothing."

"You're not nothing," Serena shook her head and grabbed Gia by the arms. She forced Gia to look at her, "You're a beautiful, strong, smart, independent woman, and you've done something amazing for all these girls. You've opened their eyes. If someone as amazing as you can… if this can happen to you, they're all scared. It sucks to think that way, Gia, but that's the truth. This didn't happen to you because you're weak, or stupid, or pathetic, or worthless. This happened to you. This could happen to anyone. Tomorrow, you wear yellow. Tomorrow, you go to school."

Gia looked up at Serena in horror. Serena smiled, "I'll be there, by your side, at all times. Emma too. The boys obviously want to take care of you. Nothing's going to happen. You need to make the final stand."

"The final stand?"

"You'll wear yellow, because you're just like everyone else; because what happened to you could happen to anyone else wearing yellow, or blue, or green, or red, or pink, or black, or white. Word of the day, Gia. Get it off your chest."

"Humiliated. I feel stupid and humiliated."

Serena smiled. She gave Gia one more hug and let the girl settle in her arms. She waited until Gia pulled away. Gia let out a heavy sigh before nodding.

"I'll wear yellow."

Serena nodded and guided her from the bathroom. When they stepped back into the shop, Gia couldn't help but notice there was something different. All eyes had turned to the counter. Ernie stood where he usually was and was serving ice-cream like it was nothing. However, he was wearing a woman's shirt, and had switched his white apron for a yellow one. When his eyes caught Gia's, he shrugged.

"It's liberating."

Serena chuckled, "School's going to be interesting tomorrow," she said and walked with Gia back to the table. As she sat down, she looked around with a smile, "Tonight, dinner's on me."

"Wait, what?"

"My husband and son are coming down for a visit," Serena said, "I'll be here for a while and I miss them. I'd love for them to meet you guys. Gia, I really want you to meet James."

"Why?"

"He's the guy I started dating after my ex. I think he might say something that you might like to hear."

"Like what?" Gia asked, and the others around the table were curious as well.

"I'm not a mind reader," Serena answered and then pulled the ice-cream away from Gia and Emma, "You'll ruin your appetite. Dessert after dinner."


	33. Tough Choices

Serena had chosen to meet with James in the dining room the hotel she was staying in. It was fancy enough, but because he would be bringing Terran up with him, they didn't want to go over the top. He still needed to be entertained and well fed during the dinner.

And, it would be easier to put him to bed for the night if Serena's room was right upstairs.

She waited just outside the dining room for him and Terran and paced impatiently. She knew this trip would take her away from home for couple of weeks, and she knew she would miss her family like crazy, but she had no idea it would be this much. Hanging out with Gia and the kids from school reminded her of the Samurai. These kids were still getting to know each other, and still getting used to having people in their lives they could count on, but it was obvious they cared for each other quite a bit, no matter how much they did sometimes annoy each other. It made Serena desperate for her home.

"Mama!" hearing that voice made Serena drop to her knees and she opened her arms wide. The advantage to traveling while pregnant was that she always had one of her children with her. Though she loved knowing she was close to her second child, there was never the satisfaction of being able to hold her little baby in her arms. She had missed Terran and his hugs.

She held him in her arms and straightened herself out in time to be greeted by James with a kiss.

"How are you?"

Serena shrugged her shoulders, "Up and down. Work's keeping me busy. I missed you."

"We've missed you," James smiled. They walked into the dining room and took a seat at a big enough table. James was a little surprised by the size.

"I hope you don't mind," Serena said as she took a seat and kept Terran on her lap. There was already a high chair waiting for him, but she wasn't ready to let him go. She took the colouring page and the crayons and handed them over to Terran to keep him distracted while she spoke with James, "I invited some kids from school."

"The kid you're helping?"

"And her friends. Have you been keeping up with the news?"

"When the white Ranger shows up in town and puts herself and my unborn child at risk, yeah," James glared at Serena, "We talked. Emergencies only."

"Hey, this team needed help. Besides, no Ranger talk tonight. These kids have been through enough. They don't need to worry about the aliens attacking the city every few days."

"Sure," James nodded. He looked across the table, "So, this kid you're helping, she's the one who…"

"Yep."

"They got the guy, though, right?"

"Yep. There was nothing he could say to defend himself. He was caught pretty much with his pants down. That's actually why I wanted to invite these kids over. I want you to talk with Gia."

"Me?" James asked, "I don't know the first thing about what she's been through."

"Cliff's a repeat," Serena explained, "He's hurt her before, he came back to try again. Right now, with Gia, we're working on words of the day. So far, I've got stupid and humiliated, and what else I've gathered from our talks is that she feels like this is it for her. She's too broken and used to be of any good to anyone."

"So? Where do I come in?"

"I told her about Dekker," Serena gave Terran a little hug, "Not about the Nighlok side of him, but how much of a douche he was. I needed her to know I'm not just some psycho lady trying to pry her open."

"You're a little psycho," James smirked teasingly, "What did you say about Dekker?"

"He's my douchebag ex-boyfriend. How I thought I loved him, I thought I could change him, and he burned me in the end. I told her about the wheelchair too. How you proposed to me when I was in the chair. I think it might help her to hear what you saw in me. Let's face it, when you came around, I was pretty broken."

"You had a few bad days," James chuckled, "I'll try saying something to her, but if I mess this up, it's your fault, not mine. So, the girl's name was…?"

"Gia."

"Easy enough."

"And by the way, you have to get past her guard dog Emma."

"Gia and Emma. Seriously?"

"What?"

James looked to Serena, "You haven't noticed?"

"What? Gia and Emma? I don't get it. Why are you laughing?"

James suppressed his chuckle and shook his head, "Let me guess, their favourite colours are pink and yellow."

"Yellow and pink, so?"

"Oh, Serena," James reached across the table and took his wife's hands, "I love you."

"What? Oh, shut up, here they come! Oh, wait!"

Serena reached into the bag she had brought down to the table for James and pulled out one of her yellow shirts, "Put this on."

"What?"

"It's the theme. Yellow and lady-shirts. Just wear it."

"I'll look like an idiot."

"I'm wearing your child," Serena gestured to her stomach, "And I've already worn and birthed your other child. You can wear one of my shirts for the night."

James groaned and changed quickly before the kids arrived.

-Megaforce-

Before leaving for dinner, the teens met up at Gia's house. They had decided they would go together.

When the boys walked into the house, they were greeted by Gia's parents. They introduced themselves and were told to wait on the couch in the living room. They said the girls would be down shortly.

Jordan couldn't help but notice everyone got a handshake, but his from Mr. Moran seemed a little tighter. He knew Emma's and Gia's families were close, and so when he told Gia's parents he was Emma's boyfriend he expected a few looks, but he got a little more than he bargained for. Mr. Moran seemed protective. Apparently, that was where Gia had gotten her protective side from.

"They said girls," Noah pointed out, "If Emma's here, and her parents aren't, I guess they weren't trying to be sneaky about letting her stay."

"Why would they do that, though?" Jordan asked, massaging his sore hand slightly, "I mean, wouldn't they want to keep Emma with her own parents."

"Shh," Troy whispered and as the boys settled down he could hear some light chatter from the kitchen. It was Mrs. Moran speaking on the phone. When Troy heard Emma's name mentioned, he couldn't help but listen in. He knew it wasn't right, but he couldn't ignore it.

"Claire, of course your seventeen year old is going to bolt the minute you tell her to pack her bags for a move across the country. She's always had a home here; you know she'll be well looked after."

"Is it about Emma?" Jake could hear little snippets, but not as much as Troy, who sat closest to the kitchen.

Troy nodded his head and continued to listen.

"I know you love her, and I'd hate to separate you, but if you ask me, it's best for both our girls if she stays here. Emma would hate New York, and with everything's Gia's going through, I really want her best friend to..."

There was a silence, likely because Claire was speaking. Suddenly, Mrs. Moran shouted.

"Her stuff's already here, Emma's happy to stay! For once, think about your daughter and not yourself!"

A slam was heard by all the boys and they looked around nervously at each other until Mrs. Moran walked back into the kitchen with a tray of snacks.

"The girls are getting ready. Emma's trying her best to hide Gia's black eyes," Mrs. Moran explained, "I know you're going out to dinner, but that doesn't mean you need to starve yourselves. Dig in, boys, and if you need anything, just ask."

She gave the boys a warm smile before walking back to the kitchen. Noah chuckled.

"There's that sweet and sour attitude."

Jordan looked concerned. He got up from the couch and walked slowly to the kitchen. When Mr. and Mrs. Moran saw him coming they looked his way. Mrs. Moran was smiling sweetly. Mr. Moran seemed cautious.

Jordan put his hands in his pockets and then took them out again. He wasn't sure what to do, or who these people were to him. Where they going to take Emma in? Were they just family friends? Either way, did need to leave a good impression.

"Emma told me about the move," he said, "I'm kind of…"

"She's staying here," Mrs. Moran assured him and realized it was likely he had heard her conversation on the phone, "Her parents have more or less agreed to it."

"More or less?"

"They aren't happy with Emma's decision," Mrs. Moran explained, "And they aren't happy we're siding against them. They thought that when Emma ran here, to Gia, we would send her back home."

"And… why didn't you?" Jordan tried his best not to sound rude.

"We've never approved of Mr. and Mrs. Goodall's parenting," Mrs. Moran answered. "They've always been a little…"

"Neglectful," Mr. Moran said flatly and earned a slight scowl from his wife.

"They love Emma very much," Mrs. Moran said, "They've always tried their best with her, but neither of them were made to be parents. Mr. Goodall's very business focused. He loves his job more than anything, and Mrs. Goodall's always looking for something new and exciting to do, and doesn't seem to grasp how exciting it is to have a child."

"I taught that girl to ride a bike," Mr. Moran growled before he got up and stormed out of the kitchen angrily. Mrs. Moran watched him go sadly and then looked to Jordan.

"The Goodalls have been our friends for decades. Mrs. Goodall and I met in high school, and Mr. Goodall and Mr. Moran have been friends since kindergarten. This is a difficult time for all of us. We do wish Emma would stay with them, but we have to put Emma first. She will not cope well out in New York by herself."

Jordan nodded his head. He was still a little troubled by it all. He was happy Emma was staying and that she was getting her way, but it worried him to know her parents would be leaving without her. Even if they were never around, it had to hurt.

"I respect that," he told Mrs. Moran. Just then, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He knew the girls were coming. He turned around and saw Emma came down first.

Dinner was casual, so she wasn't too dressed up, but she had gone for something a little classier than her regular pink shorts and jean jacket. She wore a dress, one that looked stunning on her without trying too hard and had fixed herself up nicely.

Jordan couldn't take his eyes off her, "Em… Emma, wow you look… wow."

"I wouldn't drool," Mrs. Moran whispered over his shoulder, "My husband's watching."

Jordan closed his mouth and nodded his head, "Uh, you look good, Emma."

"Thanks. You look really good too."

"Whoa, Gia!" Jake called to her as she came down the stairs, "You look really great."

"I did a good job," Emma said and gave herself a pat on the back. She held Gia's arm and gave her a smile, "It's like nothing happened. No one's going to stare. Tonight's just fun."

"Until Serena's husband tries to talk to me," Gia rolled her eyes, "What does he know?"

"Give him a chance," Emma assured her, "We trust Serena, right? She's helped you get this far."

"Far?"

"You're not going to do anything you don't want to do," Emma promised before she let go of Gia's arm and took Jordan's. She gave him a smile, "Are we ready?"

"We were waiting for you," Jordan teased her. He then looked over his shoulder, "We'll have the girls back home at eleven."

"Make sure you do," Mr. Moran called as his wife closed the door behind the kids. She turned around and smiled at her husband.

"I like them, especially that Jordan, kid."

"Whatever."

"They'll be good for Gia. I've always thought she needed more friends."

"Why?" Mr. Moran asked, "So that one day she'll end up taking better care of their kids while they live their dreams?"

"I get this hurts, Joe, but…"

"When I was over there," Mr. Moran said with a shake of his head, "collecting Emma's stuff, Jeff never asked me about Gia. He never asked about Emma. All he could talk about, as he helped me move his daughter's things from her room into my car, was about that damn job!"

"He's always been a workaholic. You used to like how focused he was."

"And I love my job too," Mr. Moran said, "but would I move across the country and leave my daughter behind? Never."

"We both worked through lunch while Gia was in…"

"I had my phone on me at all times. I was still in the city, still ready to leave and tell my boss to shove it up his ass if Gia called!"

"Honey, no one's the perfect parent. Let's give Jeff and Claire some time. They might figure this out for themselves."

"I'll be in the den," Mr. Moran said. "Make sure that boy brings the girls home at eleven."


	34. There Will Be One

Terran coloured like there would be no more colouring pages left on Earth after this night while his parents spoke with the teens. They had arrived to dinner, sat at the table, and everyone started talking. Terran wasn't interesting in grown up talk. Sometimes he would repeat a few of the words he heard, or shout no when one of the boys tried to help him colour his picture, but he kept to himself.

James felt a little awkward at the table as well. He was fine with teenagers. When he had been a teacher, he had worked in a high school. Jake and Troy reminded him a lot of the boys he used to coach, and he had seen plenty of kids like Noah back in Panorama, and Gia and Emma reminded him a lot of the girls. They were also close enough in age to Emily that he knew how to speak with them.

However, Serena had told him about Gia, and he had read in the papers what had happened to her. Now, he was expected to talk to her and he wasn't sure what about. He kept looking to her for something that would spark a conversation or give him an idea of what to say, but she was quiet for most of the dinner. When she would speak up, it would mostly be a side conversation with Emma.

Then, Serena did what James was worried she would do. She held out Terran for him to take.

"He's getting sleepy. Mind taking him upstairs. Gia, why don't you tag along?"

She wasn't subtle at all, but everyone knew the purpose of the dinner. James couldn't refuse to put his son to bed. Gia did seem slightly reluctant to head upstairs alone with him.

"You don't have to tell him anything you don't want to," Emma reminded Gia. She nodded her head and slowly backed away from the table. Serena handed James her room key and they were off.

Jake nervously looked to Serena as they left, "This better be a solid plan."

"James is a great guy," Serena said, "I think he'll find something to say that'll help Gia with her confidence."

"So, you told him?" Emma seemed slightly angered, and rightfully so. Gia's situation was a sensitive one, and the last thing she needed was the people she trusted blabbing about it to everyone they knew. Serena took Emma's hand and gave her a comforting smile.

"I trust James. He's not going to repeat anything personal to anyone. And I trust this is going to work."

"We need to take a few risks," Troy reminded Emma, "We won't get anywhere if we keep playing it safe. You said you trusted Serena, so you'll need to trust her methods."

"He won't hurt her," Serena promised.

-Megaforce-

In the elevator, Gia stood as far away from James as she could. She didn't know him; she didn't want to be too close to him. Her nerves started to play up.

James cast a glance her way and smiled, "I wouldn't be wearing my wife's shirt if I didn't want to help you. Serena said we could talk."

Gia nodded her head nervously, "She… she said you were the guy she dated after her douchebag boyfriend…"

"I meet Serena when she was pregnant with Terran," James said. "She started working at the school to earn some money for this monkey and I got a good feeling from her. I'll admit, we had a few rocky times. She's not the easiest person to get along with sometimes, but she's always been worth all the drama."

"She's been great," Gia whispered. "Kind of pushy, but, you know."

James nodded his head, "What happened to you really sucks, Gia. No one should ever be treated that way. Not once and definitely not twice."

"Three… three times. Two guys at school got me drunk at a party and… yeah."

James' heart broke. He didn't know Gia very well, but he didn't like what he was hearing. He couldn't believe any guy would even think to treat any girl that way.

Gia looked up at him, "Serena… she said you proposed to her in the wheelchair."

James nodded his head as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out. They stood in the hallway to talk, "It's like I said, things between me and Serena weren't always easy. Her last boyfriend, Terran's biological father, had been a real asshole, and his wife was even worst."

"He was cheating?"

"It was complicated," James said, "And Serena's past, and her life at the time really made things a lot harder for us. She just had so much baggage, we really shouldn't have worked."

"She was pregnant when you started dating… so why did you start dating?"

"I knew there was no dad in the picture and there was just… something about her that spoke to me. Panorama High was a really troubled school before she got there, and she made it her mission, on top of everything else, to make the school a better place. In spite of everything, she had the most amazing heart I've ever seen. I didn't mind the baggage or the scars because I knew that beneath all that, she was really someone incredible."

James set Terran down on the floor and reached out to touch Gia's shoulders, "I'm not going to pretend to know how you feel, Gia, but what those guys did to you, how they treated you, that says nothing about the kind of person you are."

Gia shrugged her shoulders, "I fell for it. I let them get the best of me. Who's going to like me now that I'm… used? There, tell your wife, another word of the day. I feel used."

"One day, you're going to meet a boy who's not going to care about that," James shook his head. "You're going to meet a guy who, no matter how many times you push him away or tell him he deserves better, he's never going to leave. When I proposed to Serena, she was in the wheelchair and she turned me down. She didn't want me to have to put up with her. She didn't want my pity. She didn't want me to have to settle for her when she felt so pathetic."

Gia let a few tears slip down her cheeks. James pulled her into his arms.

"You're going to meet a guy one day who makes you feel good and safe. He'll make you laugh when you need to laugh, and he'll hold you when you cry. He'll always be there when you need him, and when you push him away, he'll know it's because you need him more than ever. There is a guy like that out there for you, Gia, I swear."

"How do you know?"

"Because I love Serena," James chuckled, "And she's probably the hardest person to love on some days."

"Most days," Gia chuckled, "She's really pushy."

"She's different, but I love her. We've gotten past the hard times. I think, talking to you, is the most Serena's thought about her boyfriend in the last year. He's a distant memory for her now. He can't hurt her. Just like that scumbag of an ass can't hurt you anymore."

Gia smiled, and then in the corner of her eye she saw Terran standing across from her in the hall. He was looking up at her and the big, joyful smile he wore on his face all through dinner had been replaced with a look that seemed very upset. As Serena pulled away from James, Terran ran over to her and hugged her legs. James chuckled.

"He's a ladies' man," he explained, "He'll do his best to make the women in his life feel better, and he's very protective."

"He doesn't know me," Gia looked down at the little boy who held her legs and was telling her _it 'kay._

"He doesn't like when people cry," James said. "You have to pick him up. I doubt you like seeing kids cry."

Gia reached down. She had very little experience with kids, and couldn't remember if she had ever held one before. Slowly, she lifted Terran into her arms. He clung on to her tightly.

"It 'kay," he repeated to her and somewhat rubbed the back of her neck.

James smiled, "There, one little man who doesn't care about your scars."

"He can't see them," Gia muttered.

"Neither will the one," James took the room key from his pocket, "Want to help me put the little monster to bed? If you're lucky, Terran might read you a bedtime story."

Gia nodded her head. She kept Terran in her arms as she and James walked to Serena's hotel room. He opened the door.

"We start with bath time and then story time," James took Terran from Gia's arms, "I'll get him ready for the bath, can you go through the diaper bag and pull out his bath toys?"


	35. Something Happened

_"You can make this easy for yourselves, Rangers," Dayu said. "Where is the boy?"_

_Over the sounds of swords clashing, Serena heard Dayu say this and it pushed her over the edge. She took her eyes off Dekker for a moment and landed a decisive blow on an unsuspecting Dayu, leaving a deep, oozing cut on her back, from the shoulder down to the opposite hip. Dayu screamed loudly in pain and fell face first to the ground._

_Dekker watched her fall and then saw his opening. With Serena out of the way, nothing would stop him from taking back his son, and Serena was still distracted with Dayu. He lifted his sword, ready to finish her off. _(The Great Family Feud, Chapter 6: Custody Battle, for those who don't remember or haven't read the Samurai Series)

Troy stumbled, catching the attention of the rest of the occupants in the elevator. Dinner with Serena and her husband was over, and they were headed up to Serena's room to bring Gia home. Jake and Noah grabbed Troy to steady him as he shook himself awake.

He had dreams of the Rangers often. He dreamt of his team and former teams with the focus mainly on red, but recently he had been having more dreams about the white Samurai Ranger and he couldn't figure out why.

This dream had been different from the rest. It felt the same, but he hadn't seen Rangers this time. Monsters, yes. Monsters he recognized from his time living in Panorama City. But he hadn't seen the Samurai Rangers in his dream.

Instead, he saw Serena. She fought against the monsters with the fearlessness of a Ranger, and she fought with skill. Troy looked over to her for a moment and had to ask himself if it was possible she was the white Ranger he had been dreaming off.

"You okay?" Noah asked. Troy nodded his head.

"I kind of dozed off."

"We're going home," Noah assured him, "Then you can go beddy-by."

Troy playfully shoved his teasing friend as the elevator came to a stop. Serena led the way out. Troy followed her, but had a strange feeling bubbling up inside of him.

His dreams of the white Ranger started shortly after he had met her, and the white Ranger's arrival in the city happened to match up with Serena's. She had mentioned she had come from Panorama, where the white Samurai lived and fought off monster for two years. And, if Troy's dreams were correct, she had fought off monsters. No regular civilian would do so with so much strength and power. Troy had felt her energy in his dream.

Jake, Noah, Emma, and Jordan walked quietly into the hotel room to see if Gia was ready to leave. Serena wanted to follow them, but noticed Troy hanging back. She gave him a smile.

"Is everything okay?"

Troy nodded just as his friends came out of the room with Gia. He offered Serena a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, fine," he didn't want to say anything, worried he was wrong. He wasn't even sure what his dreams really meant and knew there was a chance he was mistaken completely.

However, it was cause for concern. Troy would have to get to the bottom of the dreams and how real and accurate they were. For now, though, he would respect the white Ranger's wishes that they not share their identities.

-Megaforce-

The boys had walked the girls home and as promised, Gia and Emma walked through the door before eleven. Mr. Moran was impressed, but he wouldn't tell the boys that.

Instead, he had more important matters to discuss. He sent the boys on their way and walked the girls to the living room. Emma stopped right in her tracks when she saw her mother sitting on the couch.

Gia turned to her parents in rage, "You lied!"

"Sweetheart, calm down," her mother tried to come over to her but Gia stepped away and grabbed Emma. However, her father blocked the entrance to the living room, so neither of them could leave.

Mrs. Goodall stood up, "Emma, you're coming home."

"No," Emma shook her head and looked her mother in the eye, "I'm not going. I'm not leaving to New York! I want to stay here!"

"This is nonsense!" her mother said, "You're seventeen years old! Where your father and I go, you need to follow! You are our daughter! March upstairs right now and pack your bags."

"But…"

"NOW!" her mother screamed.

Tears welled up in Emma's eyes. She turned to Gia and could see the yellow Ranger was in complete shock. She pulled her best friend into her arms and whispered quickly in her ear as they hugged.

"You have five minutes, Emma," her mother told her. Emma moved away from Gia, gave her a quick nod and then raced upstairs. Gia's parents had brought over most of her things from her house, and they had given her a room from their old guest bedroom. She figured this was an elaborate and unnecessarily complicated trap to get her to go back with her parents and move away. She had truly thought that Gia's parents would be kind enough to take her in and let her stay in Harwood County. She had always been able to trust their word before.

Emma went up to her room, packed up a blanket and some clothes in a bag, and then opened the window.

Downstairs, Mrs. Goodall was waiting for her daughter to come back. Five minutes passed, and then ten minutes passed and there wasn't a sign of Emma coming down the stairs. Mrs. Goodall got tired of waiting and stormed upstairs herself. Gia and her parents followed.

When they opened the door to Emma's bedroom, she was gone and the window was open. Mrs. Goodall didn't need to turn around and instead just asked, "Gia?"

"I don't…"

"She said something to you," Mrs. Goodall growled, "Where did she go?"

"I don't know."

"Claire," Mrs. Moran said, "Can't you see, moving would just make Emma miserable? She's better off staying here."

"She's my daughter!" Mrs. Goodall walked out of the room and stormed into Gia's. She checked the closet and then under the bed for her daughter. Then, she looked up at Gia again, "Tell me…"

"She doesn't want to move," Gia shook her head, "Besides, you're just going to leave her anyways for your next vacation."

"Staying here is the best place for her, Claire."

Mrs. Goodall growled, "If she comes back here, you call me, Vanessa. You have no right to take my daughter from me."

"You're right, we don't," Mrs. Moran answered. She gave her husband a look, "I'm going to help Claire search the neighbourhood. You stay here in case Emma comes back. Call me, Joe."

"Whatever," Mr. Moran rolled his eyes.

"I would never do this to you," Mrs. Goodall glared at Joe.

"The longer you wait, the further she'll go," Joe replied. Mrs. Goodall stormed down the stairs and out of the house. Mrs. Moran followed.

Gia looked to her father in horror, "If Emma comes back…"

"I don't want to talk about it," he said. "I'm going to bed. You too, Gia."

"Dad, Emma can't leave!" Gia grabbed her father's arm. He gave her a hug.

"I'd never do that to you," he walked her to her bed and sat down with her, "I don't want Emma to leave either."

"But… but…"

"If you hear from Emma," her father told her, "not a word about it to me or your mother. We'll get this sorted."

He gave her one final hug before he got up and left the room. Gia sat on her bed and sighed. Just then, there was a light tap on her window. She looked over and saw Emma waving at her from the other side. Gia opened the window.

"Pack your things," Emma told her, "We're camping."

"We're… but?"

"If I hide out long enough, mom and dad are going to leave for New York without me, or dad will miss his deadline, they'll stay here, and we won't move."

"Are you sure?"

"But we can't tell anyone," Emma nodded her head. "No one can know where we are."

"But my parents? Serena…?"

"My parents are leaving next week," Emma said, "We've camped for longer."

Gia nervously nodded her head and started collecting things for her bag. She packed clothes, a blanket, her pillow, and the tiger Jake had given her. Then she turned to Emma.

"What about the others? If an alien comes down…?"

"We'll have our morphers with us. We'll help if we're needed. Aside from that, we need to disappear."

"You need to disappear. I'm just tagging along," Gia climbed out her bedroom window to the roof.

Emma looked to Gia nervously. It was true; Gia didn't need to disappear. Emma had just assumed so because she didn't want to leave Gia behind.

"Are you sure you want to come?" Emma asked, "If you want to stay with the guys, your parents, and Serena…"

"I can talk to you about anything, right?"

"Yeah, obviously."

"Then it's settled. I'll be fine, and I'm not letting you disappear on your own. Now, follow me. Our moms are searching the neighbourhood so we need to slip away without anyone seeing us. I know a way."

"You know?"

"I used to sneak out to see Cliff," Gia bit her lower lip.

Emma sighed and shook her head, "Well, I guess something good had to come out of that. Lead the way."

Inside the house, Mr. Moran stood by his bedroom window and watched, nervously, as the girls climbed down the side of the house and slipped out of the yard. He wanted to call them back and tell them that he'd fight with everything he had to keep them together, but he knew he couldn't stop Claire and Jeff from demanding their daughter back.

He hated himself for doing this to his best friend. He had known Jeff since kindergarten, and they had promised to always be there for each other. When the girls were born, they promised that, if something happened to one of them, the other would step up. Mr. Moran was sure that his best friend meant in case an accident left him unable to care of Emma, or in case he were to pass, but in the last several years, Mr. Goodall had changed so much that Mr. Moran would qualify that as something happening.


	36. It's Inside

For Troy, the school day started off like any other. He got off the bus and walked straight to his locker. He put his bag in his locker and took out a couple of his books. Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder and jumped.

He hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before. He had dreamt of Serena and had gotten the impression that his dreams were trying to tell him she was the white Samurai Ranger who had defended Panorama City and who had helped Jake and Noah when they had been two against the latest monster. There was nothing to prove Serena wasn't a Ranger, but no way to prove, with complete certainty that she was. However, he was up all night tossing and turning and wondering. His reflexes were a little slow and his senses weren't as sharp. He felt the tap and jumped.

"Whoa, hey, calm down," Serena chuckled and then pointed to the red shirt he was wearing. Troy was still supporting Gia, as were most of the student body and all the teachers and staff, by wearing a woman's shirt. For the girls, the theme was yellow. "Love the shirt, just one question."

"Yellow's not my colour," Troy reached down to pick up the books he had dropped when Serena startled him, "I couldn't pull it off."

"Where's Gia? And Emma for that matter," Serena asked. "I told Gia to show up to school today. It would be good for her to see all the yellow and…"

Serena trailed off when she and Troy both heard a faint cry. They looked over and saw two of the older kids standing over a smaller freshman. The younger boy was a bit on the heavier side with glasses that were a little too small for his round face. It was obvious he was still waiting for puberty as he cried out with a high pitched voice. On either side of him, the two older boys were tossing a container of sorts between them, as the younger boy ran back and forth trying to catch it.

"Give it back!" he cried, "Stop it! You're going to hurt it!"

Serena groaned. As if she didn't have enough problems trying to keep an eye on Serena, now it seemed common bullying was starting up in the school. She took a step forward, ready to take a stand, but Troy was just a little faster. Serena stopped to watch.

Just as the boy being picked on was about to start crying from the teasing and the threats to the little bug in his container, Troy walked over and snatched the bug from the skinner of the two bullies. He gave the bug back to the boy and glared at Roy.

"Just because you're bigger, doesn't mean you can pick on him," Troy glared right at Roy with an intense look in his eyes. He wasn't ready to stand down. Roy glared back. He was the tough kid in the school. He wasn't afraid of anything. "No matter how small, everything deserves respect."

"Well, if it isn't the new kid. You know what we call new kids around here? Fresh meat."

Troy didn't say anything. He wouldn't even blink. He continued to stare at Roy as if waiting for something more to come from the slightly taller boy's mouth. When nothing did come, Troy started to walk away.

Suddenly, he bumped into a bigger, taller boy. Roy's sidekick it seemed, from the amused grin on his face. Troy turned around to look at Roy as his body guard blocked the path. Roy stood over him.

"Aw, are you going to cry?"

Not a muscle in Troy's face twitched, "Take a good look. Do you see any tears?"

The standoff was intense, but eventually Roy backed down. By the end of the confrontation, he was the one who looked ready to run home crying. He simply turned to his friend.

"This chump's boring me. Let's go."

As the two bullies walked off, Troy looked to the freshman and gestured to the bug, "What is it?"

"It's a halderman click beetle. It's really rare," the younger boy answered Troy smiled as he got a closer look at the bug and then nodded his head.

"Cool. Get to class. Those guys won't bother either of you again."

"Thanks!" the younger boy smiled and hurried off before there was another incident. Troy turned around and walked back to his locker. Serena waited for him and looked impressed.

"That was really cool what you did for that kid."

"I was picked on when I was younger," Troy shrugged his shoulders. "It's a horrible feeling. I can't just stand around and watch someone else go through with that."

"You were picked on?"

"Why does everyone seem surprised?" Troy closed his locker and turned to Serena. She shook her head.

"Not surprised. I just… never thought about it. How did you make it stop?"

"Eventually I learned martial arts. I stood up for myself, after some help from a really great guy."

"You beat the bullies up?"

"Never," Troy shook his head, "That's not my style. I stopped giving them what they wanted. Roy and all those other bullies are all the same. They want a rise, and an audience. If you show then you won't give into their game, they stop playing."

"You're a good guy, Troy," Serena gave him a pat on the back, "Now, as for my earlier question…?"

"I haven't seen or heard from Gia and Emma since last night," Troy answered. "See if Jordan or Jake know anything."

Serena smacked her forehead, "Baby brain. Thanks, Troy."

-Megaforce-

Camping had never been Gia's idea of fun, but spending time with her best friend always made the camping trips worth the hike and the sleep in the dirt.

Emma had snuck home quickly after the girls left Gia's house and took her tent and camping supplies from the garage. Then, the girls hiked deep into the woods, where they were sure no one would come out to look for them. They set up camp and slept for what little night they had. In the morning, Emma had been up first and so had gone to get some berries for breakfast. She often spent many hours in the forest and would grow hungry. She knew which plants were good for fruits and which were to be avoided. Later in the day, she and Gia would find a place to eat quickly, but going into the city when she was sure her parents were looking everywhere for her was risky.

When Emma got back to the tent, she saw Gia was already up and playing with the stuffed tiger Jake had given her. Emma chuckled as she offered Gia a bowl of berries, "Aw, you're got a sweet spot for the tiger?"

Gia shrugged her shoulders, "It was really sweet of Jake. He's scared of hospitals, you know."

"I could tell," Emma nodded. "Is everything okay?"

"Just… nightmares," Gia sighed. Emma looked to her best friend sadly.

"If you need to, you can call Serena or…"

"And get her stuck in the middle of this?" Gia asked and shook her head, "We're staying off grid for a while, Emma. That means we both need to disappear."

"Not at the expense of your recovery. I know you like to talk to Serena and she's been great for you so far. I'd be fine with a phone call or even on my own…"

Gia scoffed, "The only reason I came out here, aside from not wanting you to leave me, was to keep an eye on you. Anything could happen out in the woods, especially to a Ranger. Do you really think we're splitting up?"

"I can protect myself…"

"Maybe from a bear, but if there's an alien attacking, I don't want you going in by yourself. Let's face it, Em, you're a great Ranger, but you'd still get your ass kicked. And anyways, Serena's not the only person I can talk to."

"If you're not comfortable with me, I don't want to force you," Emma took Gia's hand, "I get it, sometimes we're just too personal."

"No," Gia shook her head, "Never," she flashed Emma a quick smile, "Serena does this thing that really helps. She asks me for a word of the day and… it's going to sound stupid but it really… I don't know. Something about saying the way I feel out loud makes me feel… better."

"We can do that. You know I'm not going to judge you. Whatever you say stays between us."

"I know," Gia smiled. "I've told Serena and James some words already, want to hear them?"

Emma nodded and leaned in a little closer to Gia. The yellow Ranger took a deep breath.

"Stupid, humiliated, and used."

Emma wrapped her arms around Gia, "It makes sense you would feel that way."

"Serena usually just says it's okay."

"And it is," Emma nodded, "It's okay to feel that way. I get why. Although, it makes me really sad to hear that."

"Why?"

"Because none of it is your fault. Maybe you were used, but all the fault, and all the blame falls on Cliff. The problem is with him, not you."

"Admit it, Emma; I must have done something…"

"No!" Emma shook her head side to side, "No. I'm not letting my best friend turn into one of those girls who thinks she deserves nor did something to deserve being treated poorly by an asshole. You're better than that, Gia. I've been trying to tell you that for two years now," Emma moved away from Gia and chuckled slightly, "I guess, if there's anything wrong with you, it's that you don't listen."

"Do you know how much I'm dying to believe you, Emma?" Gia looked down at the tiger in her hands and sighed, "I just… can't. I'd never wish what happened to me on to you, but sometimes I wish you could feel the way I would do so you would know."

"Cliff took something from me too. He took my best friend and buried her somewhere in that shell of yours, and just when I thought she was coming back, he buried her again, this time deeper. You're right there, Gia, but you have no idea how much I miss you."

"I don't even know who I am anymore, Emma," Gia sighed, "Before Cliff, I was just some kid. Now I'm supposed to be thinking about what I want to do after high school. I should have goals and dreams and… you wouldn't get it?"

"I'm worried about after high school too. I'm worried about high school. I don't know about you, but between saving the world and fighting off Cliff, my grades have taken a hit. I might not see the twelfth grade for another couple of years."

"But you know who you are, and you're not… scared," Gia shrugged her shoulders and sighed, "Em, we're out here because you're strong enough to want to move away from your parents."

"Strong enough? Gia, I'm running away. I'm a coward. Besides, I'm scared of leaving you…"

"Because I'm a mess and you need to pick up the pieces…"

"Because I've never been anywhere without you," Emma took Gia's hands and held them softly, "For the past seventeen years I've figured out who I am because I've always had my best friend watching my back. I know you don't always like the things I do or even what I eat, but I'm safe with you. I trust you. You've always been there for me. Like when I scraped my knee learning to ride my bike. Remember, your dad told me to get back up and keep pedalling, but I was too scared. You told me I could do it, gave me your magic _pink_ helmet, and you told your dad that if he let go of my seat before I was ready, you'd beat him up."

Gia chuckled and nodded her head, "You got on and rode like you'd already mastered the bike."

"And you remember when we had that sleepover, and I saw a spider in your room and freaked out? I wanted to kill it, but you caught it in your hands and told me everything you had read about spiders in that insects book you got for Christmas?"

"Spiders are arachnids, I don't get why they were in a book on insects," Gia rolled her eyes.

Emma gave Gia a smile, "You told me they were important. How destroying them would hurt the planet, and hurt us in the end. You told me the spider didn't need to be in the house, but we didn't need to kill him."

"He was cute."

"You also remember years and years ago, when my parents, God knows why, decided to go on a trip to Disney World and left me at home with your parents. You guys were planning a camping trip and let me come along, and while we were out collecting wood for the fire, you pulled me aside and showed a mother deer caring for her fawn. You pulled out the disposable camera your dad gave to you and let me take as many pictures as I wanted."

"You left the flash on," Gia nodded her head, "And fumbled with the camera. Instead of taking a picture of the deer, you took a picture of me, and the flash scared away the deer."

"You let me keep the camera, and we took so many pictures of our camping trip. When I had the pictures developed, I put them in my scrapbook. About a year later, I rediscovered them, and going through the pictures took me back to that trip, where we had so much fun."

"That trip came after the spider thing," Gia rolled her eyes, "So you were already starting to get into all this environment crap. You took about ten pictures of the ants on a log."

"You helped me find my way," Emma looked at Gia with a bright, cheerful smile, "Those things, the bike, the environment, and photography, those were already inside me and you brought them out. I'm going to do the same to you. I know who you are, Gia. I've always known. I'll help you figure it out."

"Then we need to make sure your parents don't take you back," Gia whispered and turned away from Emma to hide the tears in her eyes. She climbed out of the tent, wiped her eyes, then turned and offered her hand to Emma, "But first, let's make sure this nature crap really isn't my thing. We'll go for a walk and while you take pictures of dirt and rocks and stuff, I'll tell you more about… about Cliff."


	37. The Bigger Guys

It was lunch time, but Troy had his nose in a book. His senses were sharp enough to guide him down the halls but they weren't perfect. As he was studying for the quiz in his fourth period class, he bumped into Roy. He apologized for not looking where he was going and tried to walk off; hopeful Roy had learned his lesson. This time, he bumped into Roy's bigger friend Barry.

He knew what they were trying to do. Kids had done it before in the past. They were hoping to intimidate him. Bullies wouldn't give up so easily.

"You think you're tough, punk?" Roy asked and chuckled as he touched the frill on Troy's shirt, "What's with the girly clothing? Hiding a secret from us?"

"Supporting a friend," Troy answered and walked to his locker. Roy and Barry followed him, laughing behind his back.

"You know, pretty boy, there's a pecking order in this school. You're at the very bottom. Before you can walk these halls safely, you need to show us you know your place."

Roy held out his bag. Troy stared at it.

"What do you want me to do with that?"

"I have homework."

"I'm not the guy you should be asking for help," Troy gestured to the book in his hand, "I can barely keep my own grades high enough."

Just down the hall, Jake, Noah, and Jordan were coming by to see what was taking Troy so long to meet up with them for lunch. They stopped when they saw he was talking to Roy and Barry, and they had been at the school long enough to know that meant trouble.

"Let's get him out of there," Jake groaned. He took a step forward but someone grabbed his arm. He looked over his shoulder. Serena had appeared seemingly from nowhere.

"Troy's cool. He's got this."

"Roy's slim," Jordan shook his head, "He fights dirty. He picks on little kids, and uses Barry as back up for when someone tries to put him in his place."

"He's been suspended eight times," Noah added. "We were in middle school together. He picked on me daily."

"He'll never smash another laptop again, that's for sure," Jake commented. Serena looked to the boys and sighed.

"You react, he gets what he wants. Bullies want attention. They want to feel like they're in control. Troy's going to put him in his place, and he'll do so the right way."

"And what way is that?" Jordan asked.

Down the hall, Troy stood expressionless as Roy and Barry teased him endlessly on his appearance, and tried to judge him using what little knowledge they had on him from the thirty seconds they had known him. Troy stood tall before him, knowing their words were meaningless and untrue.

Eventually, the laughter died down. Roy shoved Troy hoping to get him riled up, but Troy didn't budge. His balance was great due to many years of martial arts.

"Boo," Barry said from over Troy's shoulder, but he didn't flinch. Roy waved him off.

"C'mon, Barry, this guy's a loser. We've got better things to do," Roy stormed off down the hall and Barry followed. Troy shrugged his shoulders and turned around. He saw the boys and Serena waiting for him. He took his lunch bag from his locker and smiled.

"Shall we eat? I'm hungry."

"We need to eat and move," Serena said, "I talked to Ms. Chesterfield while you were in class. Emma ran away from home last night. Gia must have gone with her."

Jordan breathed out a sigh of relief. He had been worried all day about Emma's absence, and had a thought that it was something to do with her parents wanting to move her across the country. To know that there was a chance Emma was with Gia comforted him a bit. He saw the others giving him strange looks and knew he needed to explain himself.

"At least they aren't alone."

"Either way, I've got an emotionally unstable kid I need to babysit out somewhere in this city without help," Serena rolled her eyes. "Gia's and Emma's moms are doing what they can to look for the girls, but they called the school to see if I knew where they were."

"They might not want to be found," Noah pointed out, "They ran away for a reason, right?"

"In my experience, running away means a lot of trouble," Serena said, "And this city isn't exactly the safest what with monsters attacking every couple of days."

Troy looked to Serena thoughtfully. Knowing what he knew about her, she was bringing up a good point. If she was who his dreams were telling him she was, then she was telling him that two Rangers on their own, away from their friends and their teammates had led to danger in the past. She likely didn't know his secret or Gia's or Emma's, assuming the girls weren't careless with their identities, but it was worth reading between the lines. Serena had been a Ranger, and now she was speaking to Rangers.

"You think they could get hurt?" he asked. Serena looked to him with a nod.

"Anything can happen," she said. "We don't have to tell their parents where they are, but we at least need to make sure they're okay. I convinced Chesterfield to excuse the four of you from class to help me look on one condition."

"What's that?" Jake asked.

"I'm responsible, so don't twist an ankle or get hit by a car or die or anything. The last thing this school and I need is a lawsuit."

-Megaforce-

Emma couldn't focus on anything around her. She watched her feet walk through the woods and listened carefully as Gia told her everything that had happened from the moment she walked away with Cliff until she woke up in the hospital, how he had made her feel, and how she felt about it all looking back.

"You told him to throw you from the window?"

Gia shook her head, "I told him I'd rather jump out the window than spend even one night with him. So he threw me out. I guess that's one way to escape him."

"Or die," Emma whispered, "You could have really been hurt."

"But I'm fine. For the most part."

"Sleeping on the ground probably isn't helping much."

"Hurts less than having my best friend move across the country."

"Not going to happen," Emma shook her head, "My parents would have to kidnap me."

"Would it be kidnapping if both your parents mutually agree to take you across State lines?"

"Dunno," Emma shrugged her shoulders, "Either way, it's not going to happen. I'm staying here with you, Jordan, and these forests."

"Not too many like this in New York."

"Not a lot of aliens, either," Emma chuckled. Gia nodded her head and continued to walk arm in arm with her best friend until they noticed something in a clearing coming up ahead. Emma stopped in her tracks and pulled back on Gia's arms. They looked over and recognized Creepox, one of the main big bads that sent aliens down to destroy Earth, standing over a young boy that went to their school.

"Howie," Emma whispered to Gia, "He joined the environmental club this semester. He's got this really cool click beetle."

"What's he doing facing Creepox on his own?" Gia asked. She stepped forward to join the battle, but Emma pulled her back.

"You're hurt."

"You're not going in alone," Gia said. "I'll get the kid to safety while you hold him off. If you need help, I'll come back and we'll double team him."

"Sounds fair," Emma nodded her head and reached into her bag for hers and Gia's morphers. Creepox was advancing quickly on Howie, who stumbled over his own feet and was now trying to crawl away from the giant insect.

Just as Creepox was about to lay his stingers into Howie, the girls jumped in. Emma kicked the alien back while Gia pulled him up to his feet.

"C'mon, get out of here," she led him away, through the trees until he was far enough to be safe while Emma kept Creepox busy. She landed several blows, but Creepox was fast and he was also quick to recover. Gia returned and joined the fight, but two on one seemed to be no more of a challenge. With a quick swipe of both stingers, he launched the girls backwards into a nearby warehouse where tools for preserving the forests and the animals that lived in the woods were kept. Emma and Gia flew backwards through wooden crates and metal barrels and landed in a heap on the ground. As Creepox entered the building, they quickly got to their feet, but not without showing signs of injuries. Emma clutched her ribs tightly, trying to support them as she moved, and Gia struggled to stand up straight. As they pulled out their blasters, Creepox shot at them just a little faster, knocking them back again.

"He's tough," Gia muttered through clenched teeth as she looked up at the laughing Creepox. Emma got up first and pulled Gia to her feet.

"You're tougher."

"Emma, that's not who I…"

"I know who you are," Emma summoned her Phoenix Shot and blasted Creepox, buying Gia a little more time, "You remember those kids picking on my haircut? You shut them up without saying a word."

Creepox was back on his feet. Emma's blast hardly caused any damage. Gia summoned her Tiger Claw and tried to go for the direct attack while Emma blasted from a distance. She blocked a few shots, landed even less, but Creepox's speed and strength came out on top as he slashed at her and knocked her to the ground. He placed his foot on her stomach and stood over her with a wicked grin.

"You will fall to me!"

Gia struggled under his foot. She looked up at him and for a moment she saw Creepox, but then she blinked and suddenly it was Cliff standing on top of her with that look in his eyes. He was winning. He would get her to do exactly what she wanted. She couldn't beat him.

Suddenly, the weight of his foot fell away from her. Gia got to her knees and looked over. Emma had taken up the fight and was taking a beating. Gia knew, deep down, it was Creepox she was fighting, but her eyes only saw Cliff.

She was tired and she hurt, but she had spoken the truth; she never wanted to see Emma suffer the way she had. As Creepox knocked Emma to the ground, Gia swiped at him with her Tiger Claw. He was knocked over. Another swipe pushed him further away. Gia knelt down beside Emma and helped her to sit up.

"What happened?" Emma asked, "You froze up for a second."

"Creepox is stronger than I am," Gia answered. "I saw… Cliff."

Behind her helmet, Emma smiled, "You knocked him away. You stood up to him."

"Can I get the '_I'm-proud-of-you'_ speech later?" Gia asked when she noticed Creepox getting back to his feet, "We need to focus. We need to give this guy all we've got. I can't let another creep walk all over me."

"You won't have a choice!" Creepox cried as a ball of flames appeared at his chest, and he waved his hands around the ball. "Meteor shot!"

Before the girls knew what was coming, the ball of fire was bigger than they were and smacked them right off their feet. A burning pain struck them through their suits and tore into their skins. They felt their energy leaving them before they hit the ground.

Emma blacked out almost instantly, but Gia managed to stay awake. Her vision was blurred and she felt dizzy. She couldn't lift her chest, never mind get to her feet, but she could reach the blaster that had fallen from her holster before her suit left her. She watched Creepox and waited until he turned and started to walk off before she fired the blast.

She wasn't sure if it hit him, or if she even pulled the trigger enough to shoot because she passed out. However, the blast did go off and hit Creepox in the back of his leg, forcing him to fall. He growled and turned around, but both girls were out cold. They weren't going to be a problem for him now, and he had to find the other Rangers before they got the jump on him.


	38. Just A Big Bully

Troy, Noah, Jake, Serena, and Jordan hurried through the woods. They had heard a blast going off and were terrified of what it could mean. Emma and Gia could have hidden anywhere in the city, but blasts were never a good sign, and knowing their duties as Rangers, it was possible they had run into a monster.

This wasn't good news on a normal day, but with Jordan and Serena part of the group, their identities were already being compromised. Troy was mostly worried about Jordan and his reaction to finding out about Emma being the pink Ranger. If Troy's dreams were right about Serena, she would know to keep this a secret. She could be trusted.

Suddenly, the three boys heard their morphers go off. Serena stopped when she heard the sound and turned suspiciously to glare at the three boys, while Jordan stopped and looked curious.

"Three alarms at once?"

Noah pulled his morpher from his bag, "I invented this myself."

"What is it?" Jordan took it to get a closer look. Serena focused her attention on Troy and Jake. Jake seemed nervous, but Troy was staring back at her.

Serena recognized the morpher. The Megaforce Rangers had them on their belts, right where she and the Samurai Rangers kept their Samuraizers. Her heart sunk as she put two and two together and realized these teens who she did care for had a heavy burden to carry.

Only there was one problem. Red, Black, and Blue were the three boys on the team. Troy, Noah, Jake, and Jordan made four. So Serena relied on coloured shirts. Troy was wearing red, Noah had blue, Jake wore black, and Jordan had grey.

Jordan was the odd man out.

"Jordan, we should split up. We'll cover more ground that way."

Jordan looked to her, "Aren't we supposed to stick together or you get fired?"

"I'm a risk taker," Serena shrugged her shoulders and gestured to the nearby warehouse, "Emma's the one running away. She's probably come out here and needed shelter for the night."

"Jake, you stay with them," Troy stated. The morphers had gone off because there was trouble and Troy didn't need Gia and Emma getting into trouble without a friend coming to help. If Serena was who Troy thought she was, then there would be two Rangers coming to them no matter who found them first. "Noah, we'll head back to the city."

Noah saw on his morpher that the alien was headed in that direction and nodded his head. Before Jordan could ask what was going on Troy and Noah disappeared into the forest and Jake was tugging on his arm.

"The girls."

Jordan remembered his mission and followed Serena and Jake to the warehouse. Serena led the way. She knew it was a long shot that she would find Emma and Gia quickly, but she had to search everywhere. The girls had been away from home all night, and no doubt needed shelter as they slept. It was worth a shot to look.

And their shot paid off. Serena climbed over barrels and boxes and saw two bodies lying still on the ground.

"Gia!" she recognised her quickly and raced to her side. As she rolled her over carefully, she noticed there were many more cuts and bruises on her face and hands, and her clothes were torn. She looked like she had just come from the fight. The blaster by her hand, and the morphers similar to the one Noah had pulled out, the ones the Rangers carried, were Serena's final clues. She knew who the Rangers were.

That only made her care for Gia more. Serena was the white Ranger, but only because by the time she joined the team, yellow had been taken. She had adopted white as her colour, but deep down her blood was yellow. If all the Rangers were one big family, Gia was as much her sister as Lauren, Mia, and even Emily.

"What happened?" Jordan cradled Emma's limp body in his arms and was obviously terrified. He didn't know what Jake and Serena knew – not that they were comforted by what they knew. All he knew was his girlfriend had been badly beaten in the middle of the forest and was now unconscious.

Jake searched the warehouse for signs of what had happened. There were burn marks on some of the support beams, and pieces of the sand under his feet had been turned to glass. Gia, though she was recovering physically from her attack from Cliff, still looked beaten, and Emma was badly hurt as well. The morphers had gone off which meant an alien had turned up.

"We need an ambulance," Jordan cried and started to dig through his pockets for a phone. Serena smacked it from his hands. He turned to her in shock, "Serena! They're hurt!"

"No hospitals," Jake shook his head. Whoever this alien was, he had made this war personal.

Finally, the girls began to stir. Jordan cradled Emma to his chest, careful not to hurt her.

"Emma? Are you okay? What happened?"

Emma groaned and shifted in Jordan's arms. She looked up at him, and then over to Gia. She sat up with help from Jordan.

"I'm okay," Emma answered ad rubbed her forehead with her hand, "I'll… I'll be fine."

"What were you thinking, running off like that?" Jordan asked her as he continued to hold her. She tried to get up, but he held her down, "Emma you're hurt. We need to get you to a…"

"No hospitals," Emma shook her head and looked to Gia who nodded. If they went to a hospital, Emma's parents were sure to find her before the move date and they would take her away. And now that she had run away from them twice, they were likely going to get her out of town as soon as possible to be sure to end it.

Emma saw Gia nodding her head, signalling she was well enough to stay out of a hospital. Emma then reached forward and grabbed her morpher. It had fallen off her belt in the blast from Creepox and she knew she couldn't lose it. When she held it, Jordan got a good look.

"Noah had one," he said and then looked over, seeing Gia already had hers in her hand, "You too? Wait… now I know where I've…"

"Time to go," Jake said as he placed his arm on Jordan's shoulder. Jordan shrugged it off and looked down at Emma in horror.

"When I pretended to be a Ranger I… I saw them wearing those. You're… you're the Power Rangers?"

Emma looked up at Jordan sadly, unsure of how to deny it. She had lied about it. Coming in late to class looking a little roughed up always raised a few eyebrows, but no one had ever asked her directly. It was always questions about where she had been or what she had been doing. Jordan was the first to piece it together.

"Jordan, I…"

"Save it," Jordan dropped Emma and got to his feet. He brushed off the dirt on his pants from sitting on the ground and then stormed off.

"Whoa," Jake whispered to himself as he watched Jordan go and helped Emma off the ground. He gently pulled her to her feet and wrapped a comforting arm around her, "That's low."

"I'm a little more forgiving," Serena said to Gia as she helped her up, "We'll talk about this later, though. This is a whole new can of worms for you, Gia, but first there's something going on in the city."

"She's right," Jake nodded, "Our morphers went off. Troy and Noah went to deal with it."

"Creepox," Gia answered, "He's decided to take matters into his own hands. And he's tough."

"Are you two okay to fight?"

Gia nodded her head. She wasn't going to let herself back down now. Emma nodded, but she didn't seem as certain. She was barely paying attention to anyone, and instead was looking out to where Jordan had walked off.

"C'mon," Gia tugged on Emma's arm, "We'll eat ice-cream later. Let's finish this creep off.

-Megaforce-

Troy wanted to catch up to Creepox before the alien reached the city, and ran as quickly as he could down the fastest path that would take him there. Noah was telling him where Creepox was headed, having tracked him on his laptop.

They got to an open quarry, where Creepox stood as if waiting for them. Troy stood and held out his arm to stop Noah.

Troy had faced Creepox once before in an earlier battle. He had done well enough to scare the alien back to his ship, but would still say that he got his butt kicked in the battle. Creepox was tough, he was fast, and he was ruthless. He was a bigger creature, and used his size to pick on the Rangers. Like all the other aliens, he was nothing but a bully, only he had a lot more power.

"I've been waiting for this moment," Creepox said, "Ever since our last fight. I was mopping the floor with you, but I got cocky, and that gave you an opening. Maybe this time, when I take you out, I'll let you live long enough to cry over your pathetic world as we destroy it, piece by piece!"

"He's all talk," Troy whispered to Noah. The blue Ranger turned to him.

"Um, I think Gosei gave us these powers because he's exactly the opposite of that."

Troy shook his head, "He's building himself up. He's strong, but we need to stand up to him. If we don't back down, if we don't show any weaknesses, we can take him on. He'll get frustrated, make a wrong move, and that's when we go in for the kill."

"You've got this figured out."

"I've dealt with a few bullies in my time. They're all the same: all talk and no fight."

"Maybe not exactly the same," Noah muttered as he pulled out his morpher, "Go, go, Megaforce!"

He and Troy morphed quickly and fired at Creepox first with their blasters. He knocked the blasts away like they were nothing and charged over to the Rangers. Troy couldn't help but notice, as Creepox ran, he was limping slightly. There was a marking on the bottom of his foot that looked to be quite painful.

He didn't have time to act on it, though. Creepox was close enough to strike the Rangers down. Two against one gave the Rangers no advantage, even when the boys summoned their personal weapons to use against Creepox. He stood and took every shot and strike like he was being tickled in a friendly war. Noah even thought he heard a laugh.

He was taken down but a powerful slash to the chest. The wind was knocked out of him and Noah couldn't pull himself up to his feet fast enough to help Troy. For now, the red Ranger was on his own.

Troy didn't fare any better by himself, and was quickly knocked on his butt by Creepox. Noah started to push himself up to his feet as he caught his breathe. Being a Ranger meant he had to fight through the pain. He saw Creepox was ready to send out a final attack to Troy and raced over to help.

Creepox was quick, but Noah was just a little fast. He had seen fire coming from Creepox and knew his water attack would be the perfect thing to block it. As he ran to help his friend, he took out a card, placed it in his morpher and activated it. He stood between Troy and Creepox and took the blast himself. He was shielded only by a blast of water that countered the fire, but even it wasn't strong enough. A large explosion knocked both boys backwards and they tumbled down a cliff to a lower level of the quarry.

"Noah," Troy called but Noah could barely pay attention as his whole body ached, like he was on fire from the inside out. He had blocked the shot, but it taken a lot of his own energy to do so. Troy crawled over to him, "If you hadn't of blocked that shot, I'd be done for. You okay?"

Noah couldn't answer. He couldn't even get up. Troy held him gently and looked him over quickly. The Rangers took a lot of damage in battles, but fortunately the suits took the brunt of it.

Still, Noah looked like he would be no more help, and Troy didn't want to risk it. He was already worried for Gia and Emma.

"Don't worry, "I'll take it from here."

Noah didn't look ready to agree, but he had no choice. He could barely move. Troy got to his feet and looked around.

"Creepox is driven by rage. He's wants to fight for fighting sake. I guess, that last battle humiliated him."

"Troy, he's not some regular bully. He's a thousand times worse than Roy," Noah muttered.

"They're all the same," Troy stood tall as Creepox jumped down the cliff and landed on his feet. His sore one caved slightly, forcing him to his knees for a moment, but then he stood up and turned to the red Ranger. "Only I can actually take this one down. Go, go, Megaforce!"

Troy rushed over to Creepox and though it was behind his helmet, there was an intense look in his eyes. He kept his guard up and a close eye on Creepox's stinger hands. He knew the alien only wanted to hurt him, destroy him, and Troy used that against him. With his Dragon Sword in hand, he blocked all the alien's attacks as they came. He handled himself well until Creepox staggered backwards and decided it was time to end the fight. He sent another meteor shot Troy's way and this time, without Noah to block it, it was a direct hit, Troy was knocked backwards and powered down. He lay on the ground but had to pick up his Dragon Sword quickly to stop Creepox's stinger from being plunged into his chest.

It was obvious Creepox had the advantage. Troy was on his back, fighting against Creepox's arm and gravity as the stinger came down closer and closer.

Creepox had a please smirk on his face, "Cry! Cry as I destroy you! Do it! Beg for mercy!"

Creepox continued to insist Troy cry and as troy fought back; he noticed Creepox wasn't going to destroy him. Though it was part of the plan, Creepox was preoccupied with his need for revenge. Though he had beaten Troy badly in their last encounter, Troy had still gotten the final shot, and it seemed to have left an impression on Creepox. He was a bully with a motive, and wouldn't be satisfied with just destroying his opponent – he wanted to see his suffering and enjoy it.

So Troy never let his pain or fear show on his face – because he had none. Creepox wouldn't destroy him until he cried for help, and as long as he never cried for help, he wouldn't be destroyed.

"Take a good look," Troy looked straight up at Creepox, "Do you see any tears?"

Creepox cried out in frustration and pulled his hand away to wind up for another blow. Troy used these few moments to roll out from under the alien, morph again and slashed at him with his sword.

Noah watched from his spot on the side. He had been sure that Creepox had the chance to destroy Troy, but the red Ranger had never shown any signs of quitting or backing down, and it was obvious that had some effect on Creepox. When he fought Troy now, there was no more confidence in his attacks. No more cocky taunts, no more hurtful jabs. He fought purely out of rage and he was clumsy.

Troy used an opening and sliced at Creepox's weak foot. He took him down. He took the alien down and then that was the end of it. With Creepox off his feet, Troy was headed for the win. Noah watched with his mouth open as the final few blows were landed perfectly and Creepox was destroyed.


	39. Secrets

The battle against Creepox had come to an end. Gia, Emma, and Jake arrived in time to see destroy him, and then helped, along with Noah, to defeat him with the Megazord for good. He let out a painful cry as he was destroyed and the Rangers powered down. They landed in the quarry and dropped to the ground. All five of them were exhausted.

"He was tough," Jake commented and gave Noah a pat on the back, "You guys did great."

"I thought we were done for," Noah looked to Troy, "Several times."

"I told you, he's just a bully," Troy shook his head, "You don't show you're scared of him, and you don't give him any power. That was Creepox's biggest mistake. He wanted to break me, but I wouldn't let him. It's exactly the same thing with Roy and Barry. If you don't give them what they want, you stay in control and they can't hurt you. Deep down, they're the weaker ones."

"What if you let them beat you?" Gia asked and nervously looked down at her hands. Jake shook his head and wrapped his arm around her.

"Creepox beat you to a pulp, and you were still hurt from Cliff_, and_ you still helped us take down Creepox in the Megazord. You never let him win."

"She means Cliff," Emma whispered.

"You beat Cliff too," Jake smiled at Gia, "It just took a little longer."

As Jake hugged Gia, Troy turned his attention to Emma. He could tell there was something bothering her.

"Parents still forcing you to move?"

Emma shook her head and got to her feet, "I'm going home."

"Emma…" Gia grabbed her hand but Emma pulled away and walked off by herself. Gia watched her go and clenched her fists. Jake hugged her a little closer.

Suddenly, Gia shoved him in the dirt and got up. She stormed off, but instead of going towards the city, she followed her trail back to the woods. The boys looked to each other and were about to decide which to go after when Serena walked up to them from behind.

"Did you beat him?"

Jake looked up at Serena and nodded his head. Then he let out a sigh and turned to the boys, "She knows."

"What?" Noah turned around and looked up at Serena, "How did you…?"

"You guys leave clues everywhere," Serena rolled her eyes, "but it's nothing my team didn't do."

"Wait? What?" Jake asked. Troy looked to Serena knowingly. She reached into her pocket and dropped her Samuraizer on the ground. Noah reached over and picked it up.

"Your cell phone?"

"It's called a Samuraizer," Serena explained, "It's a tool the other Samurai and I use to make powerful Symbols. Everything from morphing to earthquakes can be done with our own Samuraizers."

"You're the white Ranger," Troy said. Serena nodded her head.

"You know about me, but my team's retired. I'd like it to stay that way. They've been through enough. This stays between us, got it?"

"Yeah, sure," the boys all nodded and got up to their feet. Serena looked at them.

"I'm more than willing to help you guys while I'm in town, and if you're ever in a lot of trouble, just give me a call. I'm still in touch with my team, so you've got allies there."

"That means a lot," Troy smiled.

"Now, let's get you boys cleaned up so you don't look like you've been beating each other up. I've learned a few tricks from my time. Think you can walk all the way back to my hotel?"

-Megaforce-

Gia stomped through the woods with only one thing in mind: finding Jordan.

He had run off when it was revealed to him Emma was a Power Ranger. She knew it was a shock to him, but the way he had handled it was all wrong in Gia's eyes. He had dropped Emma in the dirt and stormed off angrily.

Gia knew Emma. She knew it hurt and upset her best friend to see Jordan walking away. He had been the one guy to notice Emma and treat her properly. He was the one guy Gia trusted with her best friend's heart and he had abandoned her. He wasn't getting away.

She went back to the warehouse, hoping Jordan realized how big an ass he had been and decided to come back, but the warehouse was empty. With clenched fist, Gia started to run towards the city. She made it close to the edge of the woods before she stopped and heard something. She turned her head and saw Jordan sitting on a rock just off the path. Angrily, she stormed over to him and shoved him.

"You're a piece of work, you ass!"

"Me?" Jordan looked up from the ground at Gia, "I wasn't the one keeping secrets! I'm not a Power Ranger!"

"No, your girlfriend is! Get over it!"

"You're a Ranger too?"

"No shit, Shirlock," Gia rolled her eyes and as Jordan tried to get up again she pushed him down. "You leave Emma in the dirt, you stay in the dirt."

"I don't have to take this," Jordan shook his head and this time he got up. He turned his back to Gia, "I'm the one being lied too."

"Oh, boo-hoo, are your feelings hurt?" Gia walked behind Jordan. "You find out your girlfriend's a hero; she risks her life daily so that you, and everyone else on this planet can sleep safely in their beds at night, and you think you have any right to hurt? So, when you find her, beaten and bloodied from a battle against the toughest monster we've had to face yet, you drop her in the dirt and walk off, stepping on her heart in the process? I don't know what hurt more, getting my ass handed to me by Creepox, or watching Emma's heart break!"

"So now it's about you? Again…"

"It's about Emma, you dick," Gia grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. She punched him in the stomach and watched as he fell to his knees. She dropped down beside him and whispered in his ear, "She wasn't lying to you, she was protecting you. I don't know if you read any comic books, though I highly doubt it because it's hard to read when your head is shoved so far up your ass, but knowing the secret identity of a hero never really works in your favour, does it?"

Gia shoved Jordan back into the dirt and got up. She stared down at Jordan.

"Emma's going home. Her parents are going to take her to New York. We both lose. I hope you're happy, asswipe. I hope you can live a life of perfect mediocrity with some girl who can't hold a candle to Emma, because if I lose her, you do too."

Gia stormed, off, beating away branches as she hurried back to the city and hoped she could reach Emma before Emma reached home.

Jordan stayed in the dirt, holding his stomach. He felt pain and he felt like an ass.


	40. Stand Up

Serena was a wizard with make-up, and by the end of the afternoon, Troy looked like he hadn't even seen a fight, much less been in one. He stared at himself in the mirror, admiring Serena's work. She had shared a few tips not only on how to use the make-up to cover up the scars, but how to keep the boys from looking like they had a face full of makeup.

Troy's battle with Creepox had been a true test of strength. Though he put up a brave face, and was confident he could pull through, there had been moments where he was scared. He knew the aliens had armies of monsters at their disposal, so when one was destroyed, another could be sent down. The Rangers weren't as fortunate, and even if they were, even if all the teams could come together again, Troy didn't believe his life was worth sacrificing. He wanted to live, he wanted to see humanity triumph. His life was precious to him.

Though there had been times when that wasn't the case.

Noah knocked on the door. Serena had finished up with his face and he was coming in to see the results. He saw Troy looking sadly to himself in the mirror and put a hand on his back.

"We all deal with bullies," Noah said. "I was picked on all through middle school. Jake had to leave his soccer team because they were excluding him. Emma told us that story of when the kids teased her for her short hair, and we're not wearing these shirt for their fashion."

Noah pointed to his girl's shirt, whish Serena had also fixed up for him. Troy nodded his head.

"I know it happens but it doesn't have to. Roy and Barry and Creepox… what about them just doesn't click? What makes them thing tearing down other people is funny or even right?"

"Well, Creepox was an alien, so it's probably biological," Noah shrugged his shoulders, "And as for Roy and Barry, who knows? Maybe they've been hurt too. Isn't that sometimes the case?"

"Sometimes, but not always."

"Isn't that Serena's job too?" Noah asked, "Aside from babysitting Gia, I mean. I hear she works at Panorama to keep bullying out of the school. So maybe she'll straighten them out."

"What about she leaves?" Troy took a seat on the edge of the tub and looked to Noah, "What are the bullies going to do when Serena's not standing in their way? She's not here long term. She's here for Gia, and I doubt she'll be here much longer."

"What else can we do?"

Troy looked to Noah in shock, "You're kidding?"

"No. You stopped Roy and Barry from picking on that kid for what, five minutes? Who's to say they aren't going to pick up where they left off tomorrow? What if they decide to pick on some other kid? That's what happened in middle school. Once the bullies left me alone, they moved on to someone else."

"You didn't stand up for that kid?"

"I didn't want to get bullied."

Troy looked angrily to Noah before he got up and stormed out of the bathroom and the hotel room. Noah walked out of the bathroom looking a little stunned. He hadn't said anything intentionally to upset Troy, and wasn't sure what exactly had gotten to him. Noah knew it was tough being bullied and he was just glad it was all over.

Troy pushed the button for the elevator. He wanted to be on his own. When the elevator came up, he made sure there was no one inside before he stepped in. The doors closed, the elevator travelled down a few inches before Troy hit the emergency button, stopping the elevator in its tracks. He had a bit of time before anyone noticed. He dropped to the floor and put his head in his hands. He let out a deep sigh as a tear dripped down his cheek.

-Megaforce-

Gia didn't know what path Emma would take to get home, but knew the pink Ranger wanted to get home. She ran as fast as her tired legs could carry her and she took every shortcut she knew until she reached Emma's street. She saw her best friend walking down the sidewalk and ran over to her, catching her in her arms.

"Gia?"

"He's just a boy," Gia held Emma tightly, "You promised you wouldn't leave."

Emma nodded and sat down on the curb. Gia sat beside her. She held her arm, hugging her gently, "Em…"

"He was the best, Gia, and he just… he dropped me. He dropped me and walked off like I meant nothing to him. It hurts."

"So you want to run away?"

"I guess that would be kind of hypocritical of me," Emma shrugged her shoulders and looked over to Gia, "For what it's worth, I want to go home, not move to New York."

"If your parents see you…"

"We're best friend, Gia, they aren't taking me anywhere. We'll find somewhere to go."

"Back to my place. Dad promised he…"

"They called my mom. I don't think we can go back there. Not until my parents are gone at least. Well, I can't."

"And I'm not leaving you. Not like this," Gia hugged Emma a little tighter, "It really hurts, doesn't it?"

"Jordan? Or my parents?"

"Both, I guess."

Emma nodded, "I always thought I was silly for believing this but… I've always been scared everyone was going to leave me. When Jordan asked me out, I didn't think it would last, and then it did and… I knew it was too good to be true."

"If he was going to drop you like that, literally and figuratively, then he's not the one. He's not worth it."

"I know. That doesn't stop it hurting. And now my parents are leaving me…"

"Your mom's putting up a fight, at least. That's got to mean something."

"I've always been scared that when they left on a trip, they would never come back," Emma whispered. "That they would realize having me sucked and they would just… forget about me. My parents never cared for me like yours did. Boys never liked me, and the only one that does… I can't do anything to make him stay. No one wants to be around me."

"I do."

"Yeah."

"Do you ever get scared I'm going to leave?"

Emma nervously nodded her head. Gia hugged her tight.

"We're best friends, Emma. I'm not going anywhere."

"I tell myself that all the time."

Gia let go of Emma and rolled up the sleeve to her left hand. She picked one of her bracelets and unclipped it. Then she placed it around Emma's wrist. Emma looked up, surprised Gia would do that.

"But…"

"You know how important that bracelet is to me?"

Emma nodded her head, "Gia…"

Gia hugged Emma, "Feel better?"

Emma smiled. She took Gia's hand and got up, "Let's go face the music."

"What?"

"Show my parents that either I stay or you're coming with me. If you can stand up to Creepox-Cliff, I can take on my parents."

"You remember we got our asses kicked, right?"

"Yeah, I'm hoping for a better outcome," Emma stopped walking for a moment and turned to Gia, "You're a great friend."

"Just great?" Gia pulled her hand away from Emma's and crossed her arms over her chest, "What did I do?"

"My best friend," Emma chuckled. "C'mon, let's talk to my parents."


	41. Parents

Emma walked into her house and found it to be quiet. According to Gia, their mothers had gone out to look for them the night before, but Emma had somewhat expected her parents to be home waiting for her to return, hopeful she would come back and this mess would be sorted. There was a for sale sign on the front lawn, which meant her parents still planned on moving, but they could have gotten used to the idea of Emma staying with Gia's parents. It wasn't like her father wouldn't be earning enough money to fly her back and forth some weekends for visits. They didn't have to be apart for a year and a half.

"Mr. and Mrs. Goodall?" Gia called up the stairs. It was getting a little late; she thought maybe Emma's parents were sleeping, "I brought Emma home!"

"Taking credit?" Emma teased. Gia shrugged her shoulders.

"Might as well. I'll let you take credit with my parents."

"No need. I don't think they're home," Emma said as she walked into the kitchen. Gia followed her, but took a little detour to peek into the living room. She thought maybe Emma's parents had fallen asleep on the couch by the phone.

"They must be out looking for you."

"They're out," Emma held a piece of paper in her hand and showed it to Gia, "But it's not to find me."

Gia took the paper and read it quickly. Then she scrunched it up and tossed it in the garbage pail. Emma rolled her eyes and groaned, so Gia picked up the paper and moved it to the recycling. Then she grabbed Emma's wrist and pulled her out of the house.

"That ends that."

"Where are we going?"

"Home."

-Megaforce-

"Hey, honey," Troy heard his mother call as he walked through the house. He had just gotten home from Serena's and needed to move quickly up to his room before his mother saw his face. Serena had covered up the bruises and scars from his previous battles, but the make-up had run slightly from Troy's moment in the elevator. If his mother saw him, he knew he would get caught.

"I have homework…"

"You've been out all night."

"Something came up. I'll get it done, mom…"

"C'mere."

Troy was already at the top of his stairs. His mother stood at the bottom. He only had a few more steps to his room, but his mother wasn't to be argued with. He turned around to face her, hoping the distance and the hood over his head would be enough to hide his face.

"Troy…"

He walked halfway down the stairs.

"No games, Troy."

He walked the rest of the way and kept head down. His mother placed her hand under his chin and lifted his head. She gasped when she saw the runny make-up that covered the bruises on her son's face.

"What happened?"

"We don't need to move again, mom, I'm fine."

"Fine? Troy…"

"I handled it, okay," Troy pulled away and hurried up the stairs, "Bullies don't pick on me anymore. It won't happen again."

He closed the door to his room and walked to his desk. He took a seat, pulled out his notebook, and opened up his textbook. Just as he was about to start his homework his mother walked in.

"Do we need to talk? Sweetheart, what happened isn't…"

"I was training with a couple of friends. You know how things get."

"So why were you trying to cover up with make-up?"

"Just leave it, mom."

"Look, if the kids are picking on you again…"

"We don't need to talk about it."

"Should I call the school?"

"No!"

"Troy, what Ryan did… that's not just something you get over. Did the kids at school find out? Are there any parents I need to talk to? This is a serious issue…"

"Mom, please, just drop it. You're only going to make it worse."

"Troy…"

"It's fine!"

Mrs. Burrows sighed. She gave Troy a kiss on the cheek, which he wiped off, and then headed for the door.

"I love you, Troy."

"I love you too, mom."

"If you ever need to talk…"

"I have homework," Troy pointed to his notebook, stuck his headphones in his ears, and got to work. His mother closed the door with a sigh.

-Megaforce-

Going home to Gia's house was a different feel. As soon as the girls walked through the door they were taken into Mrs. Moran's arms and hugged tightly. They had been missing for over a day and given her reaction to their return, she was happy to see they were home. She gave them both a kiss on the cheek and walked them to the living room. As they sat on the couch, she draped a blanket over each of them, insisting they must have been cold after a night on their own. Then she rushed to the kitchen to make a hot chocolate to warm them up.

Mr. Moran gave Gia a loving squeeze before he took a seat on the coffee table and looked to Emma. He put his hands on her legs and gave her a little smile, "Your mother stopped by yesterday. We couldn't turn her away. She was looking for you."

"I'm not moving," Emma said, "You can't make me."

"Our offer was sincere," Mr. Moran said, "You always have a home here. You're my goddaughter, and when your parents don't pull through for you, it's up to me to make sure you get the very best care."

"So… that wasn't a trick?" Gia asked, "You weren't setting Emma up?"

Mr. Moran shook his head, "Vanessa and I heard about the move in the hospital. As soon as we heard your parents wanted to take you to New York, we knew you'd never agree to go. There's less than two years until you're old enough to make your own decisions about where you want to live, and I'm sure you'd appreciate not having to move everything you own from one State to the other and then back again in such a short time frame."

"How'd you know I wouldn't want to move?"

"Well, for one, a few years back I got a job offer that would take me out of the city, which meant we would have to move and you and Gia wouldn't see each other as often. Gia decided to rebel. She knows how to get her way. Vanessa and I learned then just how important you two are to each other. We also knew you would hate New York. I remember sitting through hundreds of your environmental speeches. You love nature, you love the freedom it gives you. Trapping you in a New York building, where the only green space requires you to drive – not bike – through a populated city would probably kill you."

"It would kill the environment first," Emma commented and then she received looks from both Gia and Mr. Moran, "What? You know what would help New York's traffic problem and save the environment? Less cars on the street! People can't possibly be _that_ busy!"

Gia rolled her eyes and was then given a stern look from her mother as she returned with hot chocolate and cookies.

"You girls had me worried sick. What were you thinking, running off like that? And in the middle of the night! If you were trying to give me a heart attack, you were almost successful. Maybe if you'd stayed out a little longer you'd have gotten what you wanted."

"Sorry, mom."

"Yeah, sorry Mrs. Moran."

"Vanessa, please," Mrs. Moran smiled to Emma. She sat down beside her, "Have you been home?"

"My parents aren't there."

"I know. They've gone."

"To… To New York?" Gia asked and took Emma's hand, giving her a comforting squeeze. This had to be the worst night of her life. Jordan had walked away from her, and now her parents had left her. It was a nightmare come true.

"Your father had no idea you had run off," Mr. Moran said. "I called him to see how he was doing, and all he could talk about was that damn job."

"Joe…"

"The girl's old enough to learn the truth," Mr. Moran said to his wife. She shook her head.

"That's her father."

"And where is he now?"

Gia gave Emma's hand another squeeze, "It's going to be fine."

"Mom…" Emma turned to Mrs. Moran, "Mom was fighting for me, right? I mean, she wanted me to go to New York. She wanted me… right?"

Mrs. Moran took in a deep breathe, "Emma, sweetheart, your parents do love you very much. Your mother was very upset when she knew she would have to be apart from you…"

"She… she could have stayed…"

"Your mother had a plane ticket in her pocket. It wasn't to New York. It was from New York to Paris. I…"

"She's old enough to learn the truth," Mr. Moran repeated to his wife when she hesitated and placed his hand on her shoulder.

Mrs. Moran nodded her head. She looked right at Emma, "I told her I'd let her take you to New York if she ripped up the ticket to Paris. I told her Joe and I would pay for a family vacation for the three of you and Gia together in the summer wherever she wanted to go if she ripped up the plane ticket and stayed home with you as you adjusted to the move to New York."

"She… she went to New York?" Emma asked. Gia quickly pulled Emma in her arms and hugged her.

"It's okay, Em. You can stay here."

Emma wrapped herself up in a tight ball, hugged her knees to her chest and leaned gently into Gia. She knew this argument between her and her parents was going to end with them going off to New York and her staying in Harwood County, but she had expected a proper goodbye. She expected her parents to do what was best for her, realize her happiness meant staying in Harwood County. She wanted them to sacrifice their needs to make sure she had the home she needed. She didn't want them to sacrifice her for their own happiness.

"Your things are already upstairs in your room," Mr. Moran said softly. "Tomorrow, I'll help you move the furniture around so the room feels more like your space."

"And I'll take you girls out to lunch. I'll pick you up from school and we can go to that Brainfreeze place you kids love," Mrs. Moran suggested.

Emma shrugged her shoulders. She knew Gia's parents were trying to cheer her up, but it wasn't working. Suddenly, Mr. Moran pulled a box out from behind his back.

"Candyland extreme?"

A little smile appeared on Emma's lips. Mrs. Moran got up.

"I'll get the paint."

"I'll lay down the newspapers. Girls, go find some old clothes," Mr. Moran smirked. Gia's parents stepped out of the room, leaving the girls on their own. Gia chuckled.

"It's been years since I've even thought of Candyland extreme."

"Your dad remembered?"

"It's the only game you wanted to play on family game night. I think we all remember."

Emma let out a sigh, "Jordan, my parents…"

"Me, my parents. Look, we'll talk to Serena about this at school. Who knows, maybe she's got parent issues too."

"She's not broken, Gia," Emma rolled her eyes. Gia shrugged.

"Look, I'll forget about Cliff tonight, if you forget about the jerks that left you. There's no frowning in Candyland extreme. Mom and dad are trying to make this a good night, and maybe I've been so depressed that I've done a one-eighty, but I feel like I'm long overdue for a night where I just don't give a shit about assholes. Besides, we can't just pass up an opportunity to paint my dad pink. I know you're tempted."

"Fine. I've got a few old clothes we can wear, but only if we're the pink team."

"What other colour would we be?" Gia smirked.


	42. Bystanders Stand By

Troy wasn't in the mood for talking as he walked the halls of the school. He kept to himself, sticking his nose in his locker to grab his books, but he could hear the chatter of the students around him. Suddenly, a hand fell on his shoulder. He turned around to see who it was.

Roy stood before him, but there wasn't the usual aggressive and playful look on his face, instead there was a look of regret.

"About yesterday… dude, I'm sorry."

"For what?" Troy asked. He put his books in his bag and carried it on his shoulder. "You didn't do anything."

"Yeah, but what I tried to do was wrong."

"Where did that change of heart come from?" Troy asked. Roy shrugged his shoulders and then looked over to Barry.

"We were out in the woods yesterday. Beetle boy… uh, Howie, was walking home and we followed him. You know, we wanted to mess with him a little more. It was wrong of us. But then, this great big insect thing tried to kill us, and Howie stood up to him for us. He probably saved our lives. That takes guts."

"So, you're changing your ways because a big bug decided to step on you?"

"You know how when people are about to die they say their life flashes before their eyes? Well, ours did," Roy gestured to himself and Barry, who was nodding along in agreement, "Nothing I saw made me happy. I thought I was some tough guy who deserved respect but… well, really, I was an ass. I kind of don't want to die that way, you know? I want someone to come to my funeral and I want to be proud of the things I do. Picking on people… that's not for me. I'm not going to be a bully anymore, Troy. I'm going to try and be more like you and stand up for the little guy. Even the smallest deserve respect, right?"

Troy nodded his head and smiled at Roy and Barry, "It takes a big man to admit he was wrong. I'm proud of you guys."

A goofy grin appeared on Roy's face. Then he turned to the lockers and opened his. He pulled out a pink, frilly shirt and slipped it on, switching his t-shirt for his cousin's shirt. Then he passes a bigger, pink shirt over to Barry.

"Becky didn't have any yellow, but I figured this would make a statement too. We're doing this for your friend, right?"

"She'll appreciate it. I do too," Troy said, "And look, if you guys ever do need any help with homework and stuff, maybe we can do a study group. I'm still getting used to these classes, but we can help each other out."

"Sounds cool," Roy said. He grabbed his books and then he and Barry hurried off down the hall. They had spotted Howie and needed to apologize to him for their behaviour. He had been the real victim.

Troy closed his locker and looked down the halls. Noah was coming over to him, looking like he also wanted to apologize. Troy would listen, but he wasn't sure Noah knew exactly what he had said that bothered him. In fact, it was impossible he would know, but there was something Noah could apologize for. Troy wanted to give him a shot.

"Hey, you ran out yesterday," Noah said. Troy leaned against his locker and shrugged.

"I didn't like what I was hearing, and I'd rather not get into it with one of my friends."

"Look, I didn't mean I was going to pick on people or something. I am against it. I still think it's disgusting."

"But?"

"But nothing, that's my stand on it. If I didn't think everyone deserved respect, would I be wearing mom's shirt again?"

"So, if you don't like it, and don't think it should happen, why did you wait until after Roy and Barry left to talk to me?"

"You can take care of yourself. Besides, this laptop is new. I don't want Roy ruining another one."

"So, you'd just stand here as Roy and Barry try to put me down? What if I couldn't handle it? What if I needed someone to help me out?"

"Jake, could…"

"C'mon, Noah!"

"Hey, I did my time! All through middle school I was picked on and teased! Every day! I don't want that to happen again."

"But if it happens to someone else, it's just their time? If someone else is being called names or getting pushed around, you don't have to bother because you've already served your time?"

"No… but…"

"So, Jake never came to your rescue?"

"Yeah, all the time, but…"

"So why shouldn't other kids get that same support?"

"Troy, we're on the same side, here. We both hate bullying. We've both been bullied. Why are you getting angry with me?"

"Because you're just a bystander," Troy opened up his locker, pulled out his red t-shirt and shoved it in Noah's hands, "Here, take this. Bystanders don't take stands. They let things happen. Good people suffer every day because not enough people give a shit about them and their problems."

"Troy!" Noah called as Troy stormed off to class angrily. The blue Ranger sighed loudly and shook his head. "We're on the same side…"

-Megaforce-

Gia's eyes were assaulted when she walked into school. All the girls were wearing yellow – some were covered in head to toe – and the boys were wearing women's shirts, most of which were bright colours like yellow or pink.

"It's a sea of support," Emma said as she walked arm in arm with Gia.

"A blinding sea," Gia muttered. The girls walked to Gia's locker, which, when opened, let hundreds of notes fall to the floor. Gia looked around curiously while Emma stared at the pile.

Gia picked up a note and looked at it. All there was printed on the yellow paper was a heart. Gia looked at another note, they were all the same.

"My idea yesterday," Serena came over with a smile on her face, "Before school started, I suggested the teachers take five minutes from their lessons to just draw a heart if they supported you – completely optional. I guess most teachers decided it was a good idea."

"Support me for what?" Gia asked, "I didn't do anything."

"You took a stand against Cliff. He's in jail because of you. So many people, the girls especially, admire you for that."

"But I…"

"Gia, it's like I said at Ernie's Brainfreeze the other day: this didn't happen to you because you're weak; it happened to you. It could have happened to anyone. Maybe, if it had happened to someone else, they wouldn't have been strong enough to tell Cliff that what he did was wrong and wouldn't be tolerated."

"You're strong," Emma nodded. "It's one of the reasons I like you so much."

Gia gave Emma a little hug before turning to Serena, "Um, do you mind if, after school, we cut our talk a little short? Like, maybe in half?"

"Are you feeling better about what happened?"

"Emma's parents moved away," Gia said, "She needs someone to vent to, and you're really good at listening."

"Your parents moved?" Serena turned to Emma. The pink Ranger nodded her head.

"Without telling me. We came home from the battle yesterday and Gia's parents said they just decided to go. Mom valued a trip to Paris over me, and I guess dad doesn't even notice I'm not there."

"Yeah, we'll talk," Serena nodded her head, "I've got a little experience with abandonment too."

"Told you," Gia smirked to Emma. The pink Ranger looked up to Serena sadly.

"Seriously?"

"We'll talk later," Serena chuckled, "Get to class, girls. I hear you've got a dissection coming up! You wouldn't want to miss that, would you?"

The colour drained from Emma's face as Gia pulled her down the hall.

"C'mon, Em, we'll go talk to Mr. Burley."

Serena watched the girls go down the hall before she remembered Gia had mentioned Emma was a vegetarian. She chuckled to her herself and then turned around. She bumped into Ms. Chesterfield.

"Sorry."

Ms. Chesterfield nodded, "Gia's back at school."

"She's getting better," Serena said, "I get the feeling Emma's going to be more help than me soon. As it should be."

"You know, if you'd like a full time position…"

"Thanks, Ms. Chesterfield, but I'm better off back home. The whole time I've been here, my sister's been blowing up my phone with pictures of her twins. It's probably best I get back to my family."

"Let me know on your last day," Chesterfield smiled, "And you're welcome here anytime."

"Thanks," Serena said and then continued on her way. She turned the corner and saw Jordan slowly picking at his books. She thought of ignoring him because of the way he had abandoned Emma the day before, but then sighed and approached him.

"It's hard, I know…"

"I was an ass. I don't deserve her."

"Wait, you want her back?"

Jordan turned to Emma and nodded his head, "Do you think she'd believe me if I said that was the shock that took over my body and made me run?"

"You kind of dropped her too," Serena said, "And, I don't think her night got any better after that."

"Is she okay?"

"She's fine. She and I are talking later, though. Look, Jordan, if you want her back, you have to tell her the truth. Tell her why you walked off, and then tell her exactly what made you change her mind. That's all you can do."

"What if she can't forgive me?"

"I don't know," Serena shrugged, "But if you never talk to her, she'll definitely never forgive you."

"And her guard dog? Gia came after me, I guess after the fight, and I'm still sore."

"I'll handle Gia. Just come find us after school. I'll make sure you talk to Emma. But I'm not going to convince her of anything. The decision is hers."

"Thanks, Serena."


	43. A Heavy Guilt

Troy ate his lunch in the library. He had an assignment to work on and didn't want to deal with another argument between himself and Noah. He liked the blue Ranger, but Noah's refusal to see what was wrong with letting bullying happen drove Troy to anger.

As he flipped through his book and took a bite of his sandwich, he saw Jake walking in. For a moment, the black Ranger looked completely lost as he stared at the bookshelves, computers, and the tables where many students studied. Then he found Troy and walked right over to him. He took a seat across from him.

"I've never been in a library before."

Troy rolled his eyes, "You're here to speak on Noah's behalf."

"He doesn't get why you're mad at him."

"What if you saw Roy picking on some smaller kid?"

"I'd kick his ass," Jake said and then he sighed. He looked over at Troy, "Dude, Noah's not that kind of guy. He's brains, we're brawn. We can take the bullies."

"I'm not saying he needs to get in a fight. He's got a voice, he should use it."

"He's been bullied before. It scares him to think he'll go back there."

"Well, if he's so scared, why does he let other people feel the same terror? Sometimes, all someone needs is a friend."

"Noah's got other ways of standing up to people. He's a good guy."

"I'm not saying he's not," Troy shrugged his shoulders, "I'm just saying this passive attitude has to stop."

"Troy, when Noah sees bullies he comes to me. I handle them. Isn't that something? I'm not afraid of those punks, but Noah is. He's not…"

"What if you're not around? What if it's just Noah and some kid is getting his lunch money stolen? He's a Ranger now, he's not helpless. I just… I don't want him to think it's okay to let bullying happen, or even think that it's just a rite of passage."

Troy looked down at his books to hide the tears trying to flood his eyes. He sniffed before he realized what he was doing and regretted it when Jake touched his arm. He turned away from the black Ranger.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"C'mon Troy, we're a team. This is what we do for each other. What's up?"

"It's personal," Troy answered. He tried to get back to studying, but Jake stole his books from him and gave him a stern look.

"No offence, dude, but you're kind of a loner. If there's something bothering you, I'll listen."

Troy shrugged his shoulders. Jake sighed.

"Dude, is someone going to have to throw you through a window before you talk too? C'mon, man, I'm not going to judge. You were bullied as a kid, right? That's why you stand up for other kids now. Because you know how much it hurts."

"One guy stood up for me," Troy said, "He was this… scrawny kid. Glasses, really awkward physically and socially, but when he saw I was being bullied, he took a stand. He stood up to my bullies, told them they'd have to get through him if they wanted to hurt me. They took him up on his challenge. They started to call him names, pushed him around, I found him in lockers sometimes. The whole school knew he was being bullied but no one helped him. Everyone just… watched. They let it happen. I let it happen. I was so scared that the bullies would come back to me if I said anything. Then one day, this kid didn't show up to school. He killed himself. He was twelve. His name was Ryan."

"I'm sorry, dude."

"I'm just as responsible as everyone else in that school because I knew what was happening and I didn't do anything. Ryan stood up for me and when he needed someone, there was no one there for him."

"So when Noah says he won't stand up to bullies, you feel like…"

"If everyone thinks the same way Noah does, if everyone decides to wait for someone else to act, or to stand up for them, then no one's going to do anything. This kid, Ryan, he was smaller than me in every way. He was this puny little dorky kid, but he had the biggest heart, and he was the bravest person I've ever met."

"What happens to him sucks big time, Troy," Jake gave Troy's arm and comforting squeeze, "But I'm sure if he could see you now, he would be so proud of you. I heard what you did to Roy and Barry. Those punks were in your face and you just stood there, cold as ice, you didn't let them get to you. And that Howie kid seems really thankful. I hear he named that cricket Troy."

"It's a haldeman click beetle."

"You stood up for Howie. You're standing up for Gia. Troy, you're saving the world. Ryan didn't die in vain."

"But he didn't have to die."

"You're not going to change that. The dead are gone. Trust me; nothing you do is going to bring them back. I wasn't there when Ryan saved you, but I kind of know who you are now. I'm sure Ryan saw how great a person you were. I'm sure Ryan came to help you for a reason. All you can do now is be the person Ryan would want you to be."

"The guilt's never going to go away, is it?"

Jake shook his head, "Probably not. Look, dude, I'll talk to Noah. We can keep this conversation between us if you want, but…"

"You can tell Noah," Troy said, "It might be the kick in the pants he needs."

"Noah's a good guy, Troy…"

"I know, and I know he's just scared. I was too, but the kid being picked on, he's even more afraid."

Jake nodded and got up, "So are you really studying, or was this just to stay away from Noah?"

"I'm really studying. I'll see you later."

"Alright, well, good talk. I'd stay and offer to help, but I'm allergic to books."

Troy chuckled, "Go, before you develop a rash. We're not that close, yet."

Jake smiled and started to leave, but he stopped in his tracks halfway and turned around. He walked back to the table where Troy was studying and gave him a pat on the back.

"I had an imaginary friend until I was thirteen. His name was Marsh. He played basketball, but he would come to most of my soccer games and cheer me on."

"What?"

"Noah doesn't know about him, which is probably a good thing. They wouldn't get along. Marsh didn't like Noah."

"What are you talking about?"

Jake smirked, "You shared something about yourself, so I thought I'd share something about me. It's no suicide story, but it's something I've never told anyone else before."

"Thanks, Jake."

"By the way," Jake gave Troy another pat on the back before he left, "We are that close."


	44. Care Never Leaves

After school, Emma tagged along with Gia to her after school sessions with Serena. She sat through the first half, where Serena got Gia to talk about the last two years, and Emma was impressed with just how much Serena could pull from Gia – and a little jealous. She had tried to for years and got very little. It did help that whenever Gia closed up, Serena had a story to tell that related somewhat to the way Gia was feeling. They had something in common, and Gia knew Serena could understand everything she was saying.

Gia's session was cut short for Emma. When Serena was satisfied Gia had gotten out everything she needed, she turned to Emma. The pink Ranger was playing with her pen. She had listened to the conversation, but had also been working on her homework, deciding not to waste her time completely.

"So, your parents are in New York?" Serena asked. Emma looked over and shrugged her shoulders.

"Paris, maybe. Mom wanted to go."

"There's something I don't get. Why would they just drop you and leave? Was there anything before that? Have they done this kind of thing before?"

"Since I've been a kid," Emma nodded her head, "They go on these grand vacations that usually aren't kid-friendly, or it's for their anniversary, or they need time to themselves, or they don't think I'll be interested. I'm not surprised they left… it's just… I didn't even say goodbye. They didn't even try to say goodbye. All they left was this stupid note."

Emma pulled the note from her jacket pocket and tossed it on the desk. Serena read it quickly and nodded her head.

"Gone to New York. If you need anything, ask Mr. and Mrs. Moran. Love you. That's it?"

"Gia's parents explained the rest. I'm staying with them, mom and dad are selling the house. They've moved. They're gone."

"You got what you wanted, I guess. You're staying here."

"You'd think they'd put up a bit more of a fight, though. You'd think, when given an ultimatum, they'd have chosen me… what?" Emma turned to Gia who was shaking her head. Gia didn't want to say anything during Emma's time, but she couldn't let this go on.

"Your parents are assholes, Emma. I mean, your mom made some amazing cookies, but aside from that, you're better off without them."

"Gia!"

"It's true. My parents were there when you learned to walk, dad's always saying you called him dada when you learned to talk, dad wanted to teach you to ride a bike, mom signed you up for swimming lessons, and my parents have shown up for more parent-teacher nights for you than your own parents have."

"But they're my parents. Maybe I'm better off without them, Gia, but I still want to be… I still wish they were my parents," Emma leaned back in her seat and sighed, "When they left New York without saying goodbye, when mom chose that trip to Paris over being with me… I felt like I meant nothing to them."

"It sounds like, by leaving you with Gia's parents, they've left you in very capable hands," Serena spoke up. "You're going to be taken care of now, Emma. They may not be your own parents, but you do have some looking out for your best interest. Your mother called the school asking if you had shown up yesterday. Then let us know you had gone missing the night before and we were to call if we heard from you. Mrs. Moran called for Gia and for you."

"Mom still left. For all she knows, I'm still out somewhere by myself. I could be hurt or whatever and she's not even bothering to check up on me."

"My mom left me," Serena said, "I was pregnant with my son. She didn't like his father and instead of trying to work things out, she walked. She and dad had been arguing, she hated my baby and I wasn't about to get rid of him, so we were obviously in a disagreement, and she left my little sister, who had done absolutely nothing to wrong her."

"That's horrible," Emma said.

Serena nodded, "It hurt a lot. It tore us all to pieces. I felt really abandoned. My sister wouldn't talk for a week. Not even a '_pass the salt'_. The worst part of it was that neither of us had anyone to look out for us after that. Dad lived in a different city and he couldn't come home. We were doing the Ranger thing, so we couldn't go to him. I was pregnant and had no mother to look out for me. No one could tell me I'd be vomiting my guts out even on an empty stomach. You don't have that."

Serena reached out and touched Emma's hand, "You deserve better than parents who'll leave you, but when your parents say they love you, I think they mean it. In their own twisted sense, I really think they mean it. Instead of taking you with them, where you'd be in a city you'd hate, with a father so focused on work he's got no time for you, and a mother who'd rather travel than stay home with you, they left you here with people they trusted would take care of you, and love you the way you deserve. They did their best, and I'm sure they know you deserve better and they gave it to you."

Emma looked back down at her notebook and sighed, "It still hurts."

"Mom came home," Serena told her and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, "But every time I think about her leaving, it tears me up inside again. There's some pain you're just going to have to live with. But it does get easier. Talk about it with Gia's parents. The people who care about you most, they're never going to leave."

As Serena said this, Emma could feel Gia's hand on her shoulder. She gave a little smile and nodded her head. At that moment there was a knock on the classroom door. When it opened, Jordan walked in. He looked nervous. Emma froze in her seat and Gia looked ready to kill. Serena, as promised, grabbed Gia and took her from the room.

"It's fine."

"You saw what he did!" Gia growled to Serena and tried to pull away, but the white Ranger was stronger. When they were gone, Jordan stuffed his hands in his pockets and had a look around.

"The class looks smaller when no one's here."

Emma pretended to work on her homework. She kept her head down to hide the tears. Jordan had really hurt her, and seeing him again reminded her of that pain. Until now, she had been distracted by her parents.

Jordan grabbed a chair and sat in front of her, "You were pretty beat up, are you okay?"

"Occupational hazard," Emma muttered, "I'm fine."

"I've never been that scared for someone else before in my life," Jordan whispered. "You were just lying in the dirt, Serena said you'd run away from home again; seriously, Em, don't you ever freak me out like that again."

"I got the message, Jordan. We're done. You don't have to rub it in."

Jordan shook his head. He wished Emma would look up, but could understand why she wouldn't look at him.

"Are you really a Power Ranger? The pink Power Ranger?"

"Megaforce Pink," Emma nodded her head. "You're not supposed to know."

"Shit happens. For what it's worth, I think it's really cool. All that stuff I said about how amazing the Rangers were, I really meant that."

"I know. You had no idea you were talking to one when you said it. People are usually more honest behind your back."

"I'm also really sorry for what I did back there. I didn't react the way I should have. It kind of hurt, knowing you had this big secret. I put two and two together and so I know I've been hanging out with the Rangers. I felt left out, like you were laughing behind my back."

"We weren't."

"Em, can you look at me?" Jordan begged but instead Emma filled in another answer from her homework sheet. Jordan sighed, "I've missed you, Emma, and I really do still care about you. Like, a lot a lot. You were amazing before I knew you were the pink Ranger, and now you're twice as amazing because you're two of the people I really look up to. I get I was an asshole back there, and I get if you never want to look at me again, but I would really be happy if we weren't done."

Emma didn't say anything, but Jordan heard a sniff. He wanted to take her and hold her in his arms, tell her everything would be okay, but he knew he's be crossing a line, and he'd pay for it later when Gia found out. So instead he took a paper out from his pocket.

"I was going to bring you flowers, but I figured you liked them better in the soil where they belonged, so I drew you a picture instead. Don't worry, the paper is recycled. I used the other side to write out a list of all the things I really like about you. I'd just like to note, the fact that you're a Ranger is really amazing, but it didn't make the list. I ran out of space."

Jordan placed the picture of the flower and the note down on Emma's desk and then got up. He walked slowly to the door, hoping she would call him back.

His hand touched the doorknob but there wasn't a sound from Emma. He spun it slowly, but still there wasn't a word. He opened the door and stepped out, glancing over his shoulder slightly to see if Emma would even look at his picture or the note. She was still focused on her homework.

He sighed and walked into the hallway. He passed Serena and Gia and gave Serena a shake of the head. She looked to him apologetically.

Jordan continued down the hallway and made it all the way to his locker. By now, Gia had probably gone back into the classroom and was badmouthing him. He heard his sister and her girlfriends doing it all the time when one of their boyfriends broke up with him. He knew he deserved it. He had been an ass.

He grabbed his books, stuffed them in his bag and walked out of the school. As he reached the sidewalk he heard someone running up behind him. He turned around, hoping for Emma, but instead found himself face to face with Gia.

"I'll stay away from her," he promised, "and your secret is safe with me. I get it."

"Emma's the heart. You crush hers again, and you'll go missing. All they'll find of you is that stupid love-letter. ¿Entendido?"

"Si," Jordan gulped. Gia grabbed him roughly by the wrist and pulled him back in the school, back to the classroom. She shoved him in and closed the door behind him. Then she turned to Serena and frowned.

"What?"

"You remind me of someone," Serena chuckled. She then gave Gia a hug, "You'll be fine, kid. Yellows are resilient."

"You're really leaving?"

Serena nodded her head, "You have my number. I can be back on a day's notice, but I really think you'll be fine."

Gia smiled and hugged Serena tightly.

Inside the classroom, Jordan stumbled in after Gia had pushed him and then looked over at Emma. She was reading the paper and seemed startled by his entrance, almost like she had no idea he would come back.

"The flowers are beautiful," she said. Jordan shrugged.

"Hidden talent of mine. Look, Emma, I'm really, really sorry…"

"I believe in second chances. Well, second chances for good people."

"Am I a good person?"

"We'll see," Emma gestured to the chair Jordan had previously been sitting in, "Math's my weak subject."

"What do you need help with?" Jordan sat down and looked over at her paper. As he read the word problem, he could feel Emma's hand slowly slipping into his.


	45. Park Date

After a long search, Noah finally found Troy sitting by himself at Ernie's. He had a milkshake next to him at the counter and was staring down at a book. He appeared to be studying. Noah clutched the strap to his bag tightly as he walked over.

Jake had spoken to him after speaking to Troy. Jake had told him about Troy's friend as a kid and what had happened. Noah wanted to clear the air. He didn't like knowing he had upset his friend.

"Just the usual, Ernie," he said, causing Troy to look up at him. He smiled sheepishly.

"I don't want anyone to kill themselves."

"I know," Troy said. "Sorry, I was a little hard on you."

"And you had every right to be," Noah looked to his hands and shrugged his shoulders, "Being bullied really suck. If I can, I want to avoid it forever."

Troy nodded, "If it helps, no one's getting picked on. I won't let it happen. Not to Howie and not to you. If anyone picks on you, especially because you stood up to them, just come find me. I've got your back."

"That means a lot. And I promise, if I see anyone being bullied, I'll stand up for them. Everyone deserves back up," Noah looked over at Troy with a sigh, "I'm really sorry about what happened to your friend."

"He wasn't a friend. I only knew his name was Ryan. That's why it hurts more. He took care of me when I needed someone, then when he needed me, or anyone, I turned my back on him."

"If you don't mind my asking, I thought you took up martial arts because you were being bullied. Why didn't you… you know?"

"It takes time. I had only just started. My parents move me around a lot because of the bullying, so I had to keep finding different senseis, they all had different styles… it took time for me to find what worked. Time Ryan didn't have, unfortunately."

"On our watch, Ryan is the last to suffer that badly. I was inspired by Gia's support page and started one of my own. I put Ryan's story on the Hub. I kept his name out of it, and kept you out of it. I hope that's okay."

"If it helps end bullying, I have no problems with it," Troy said, "Where do I sign up?"

Noah took out his laptop and worked on pulling up the page for Noah just as Gia walked in. She sat down beside Noah, gave Ernie her order, and then let out a sigh. Noah was distracted by his laptop, but Troy looked over.

"What's up?"

"Emma and Jordan are back together. Serena's leaving. I'm alone."

"Serena's leaving?" Noah finally looked up as he passed his laptop over to Troy, "You can't possibly be over what Cliff did to you already."

"Far from it," Gia shook her head, "I've still got a long way to go, I know that, but Serena doesn't think I'll be as defensive anymore. I've got you guys, Emma's always been amazing, and she says I'm strong. I guess we'll see."

"Keeping your problems to yourself is what makes them seem worse than they actually are," Troy spoke up. He gave Noah back his laptop, "There, I pledged support."

"Support to what?" Gia asked and peeked over, "Zero Tolerance? What's that?"

Noah turned the laptop towards Gia, "Well, what happened with Cliff, and another story I've heard of recently got me thinking and I started this page on the Hub. It's a page where people pledge support to end stuff like bullying or sexual assault. You know, you could put up your story on here."

"I've got a page, but you know what would be cool?" Gia suggested with a faint smirk, "You've been looking for a way to make this different from Facebook, right?"

"Yeah."

"Why don't we really connect people? Make more pages on issues like these. You know, like common problems, big controversial issues, support groups. That way, people have a place to go where they can post problems, anonymously or not, and get support, anonymously or not. For instance, if you were to do that, I might start a blog."

"You… you would?" Noah grew excited. Gia was the most popular girl in school, and he knew that whatever she showed an interest in, the rest of the school would follow. He had been asking her to fill out her profile on the Hub before Cliff had turned up in hopes his website would become an instant success in the school.

Gia nodded her head, "Look, I love getting help from Emma, and you guys are doing a lot too, but sometimes it might help me to see what other people have to say."

"They might hurt you," Troy warned her.

Gia sighed, "I know. I still think… I got to school today and I saw so many people who were already supporting me, and they don't even known the half of what happened. I'm sure I'm not the only girl who's been through something like that. If I can blog about my feelings and my recovery, I might help other people."

"Maybe more people will post their own stories," Troy suggested to Noah.

"It does seem pretty cool. Once I think of a way to keep hate to a minimum, I'll talk to you about it again, Gia. Thanks!"

"No problem," Gia said. Suddenly, a pair of hands fell on her shoulders, causing her to jump. She turned around as Jake took a seat beside her. He had a very excited look on his face and seemed eager to share some news.

"You'll never guess who got offered a spot on the local soccer team."

Gia instantly turned to Noah and gave him a pat on the back, "Hey, congratulations!"

"Don't do that," Jake frowned at her and then his smile returned, "Me!"

"The local team? Like you play for the city?" Troy asked. Jake nodded his head and quickly gave his order to Ernie before he explained, "I told Coach the other day that I was quitting."

"Why?" Gia turned to him, "I can't figure it out."

"I'm not playing on a team with Mick and Alex," Jake shrugged. He tried to continue his story, but Gia interrupted him again.

"Jake, I know how much you love soccer. You didn't have to quit because of them."

Jake put a gentle hand on her back and smiled as he continued, "Coach knows the local coach, told him about me, and I guess he said great things. I start next week. I'll be joining practice, and as soon as I'm up to speed on all the plays, I'll be right forward."

"That's amazing, Jake," Noah smiled and gave his friend a fist bump to congratulate him. Then he pointed his laptop to Jake, "Here, sign in and pledge to this page."

"Sure," Jake took the laptop and got to work, "Mind if I also put a status up announcing my big news? I kind of want to rub it in Mick's and Alex's faces."

-Megaforce-

Jordan held Emma's hand gently and could feel his heart beating as he walked with her through the park. He didn't know how he had gotten so lucky. He wouldn't have blamed her for ending things between them given the way he had treated her when he found out her secret.

"So, you never told me you could draw," Emma looked up at him. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't really tell people. It's more of a personal thing."

"Do you draw often?"

"When I get inspired."

"What inspires you?"

"A mixture of things," Jordan said. "It depends on the mood I'm in. I actually painted a series of Zombie posters once. A week later, my youngest sister was having a birthday party, and for her present I drew her as the yellow Power Ranger. She's a huge fan."

"Of yellow?"

"It's her favourite colour."

"I won't be offended," Emma chuckled. She leaned in to Jordan, "So, if your sister is a fan, what was her reaction when you were telling everyone you were the red Ranger?"

Jordan blushed and rolled his eyes, "Don't remind me. Man, now that I know that happened and you guys saw it… there's a new level of embarrassment."

"You did the right thing in the end," Emma said, "but I didn't appreciate hearing you say the rest of us don't do anything."

"I just said that to make myself look good. Actually, I was trying to impress you."

"Really?"

"Didn't work, did it?"

Emma chuckled and shook her head, "Not really. I was more impressed when you told the truth."

"I guess it worked out, then," Jordan said. They stopped by the pond, where a flock of ducks were resting on the surface of the water. Jordan reached for his bag. He had half a sandwich leftover from his lunch and wanted to feed the ducks, thinking it would be a romantic way to end the walk in the park. But he noticed Emma shaking her head, "What?"

"Ducks can't digest bread. It's not good for them, and it's bad for the lake. And…"

"There's more?"

"The more people feed the ducks, the more you create a dependence on humans in the ducks. They'll stop searching for food on their own, and if you're not here all the time to feed, them, they'll suffer."

"I won't feed the ducks," Jordan chuckled. He sat down on the bench that overlooked the lake and pulled Emma on his lap. He hugged her, "Is there anything fun we can do?"

"I'm having fun," Emma smiled and she leaned in to kiss him. Jordan suddenly pulled away. Emma looked to him curiously, and a little hurt, "What?"

"You're really a Power Ranger?"

"Do you want me to morph right here, right now to prove it?" Emma sighed and leaned away from Jordan.

"I believe you," he pulled her in closer, "It's just… I got scared before I knew. You were never around for monster attacks, I was always worried you were hurt or trapped somewhere. Now I know you're in the middle of the fight and putting your life on the line. It's kind of freaking me out."

"I'll be fine," Emma assured him and nestled into his arms, "Gia's always got my back, and like everything else she tries, she's a natural. Noah's so smart, we'll always find a way to defeat the monsters, and Troy's an amazing leader."

"What about Jake?"

"He's muscle. He'll plough throw any monster and their armies in minutes."

"Armies?"

"We fight Loogies and giant bugs," Emma chuckled. "I'm not encouraging this, but we could crush those bugs with a giant tissue. We'll be fine."

"Those yellow things are Loogies?" Jordan smirked, "Alright, fear factor just went down a little bit. But I'm still worried. Anything can happen, and if our fight showed me anything, it's that I don't want to lose you."

"I'll be safe, I promise."

"Let me know as soon as you're done any battle. Even if it's just… Loogies," Jordan couldn't stop a small laugh. "Just, text me, or call, or do something so I know you're okay and not… dead."

"Promise," Emma leaned in and this time she kissed Jordan. Just as he was about to deepen the kiss, someone cleared her throat beside them. Jordan opened his eyes, saw Gia staring, and pulled away from Emma. Emma chuckled at her best friend.

"On time; always reliable."

Gia glared at Jordan, "Just because she forgave you, doesn't mean I have to."

"He's fine, Gia," Emma took Gia's arm.

"It won't happen again," Jordan nodded.

"Just don't let me catch… this," Gia pointed between Jordan and Emma then shuttered uncomfortably, "I don't need to know what's going on."

"See you tomorrow, Emma," Jordan called as he waved goodbye. Emma looked over her shoulder and smiled sweetly.

Gia rolled her eyes as she walked away with Emma, "You two are so cute, it's disgusting. Mom's got dinner ready. She made your favourite. Let's go before you two make me lose my appetite."

"You like him," Emma teased, "Deep down, I know you're glad he came back."

"Whatever makes you happy."

"It's really sweet how he didn't give up earlier. I thought he would just leave the note and, well, leave, but he came back."

"Yeah, he came back," Gia nodded.

Emma turned to Gia with a slight frown, "Wait, you didn't bring him back, did you?"

Gia scoffed, "I told you, I had to go to the bathroom."

Emma didn't seem convinced, but didn't press the matter. She leaned into Gia, "You're a good friend."

"I'll pee more often," Gia smirked. "Seriously, though, mom made your favourite. I already hate that vegetable stuff when it's warm, I really don't want to see what it tastes like cold."


	46. Soccer Is A Non-Contact Sport

Jake dribbled the ball between his feet as he stood on Gia's doorstep with a bag hanging from his shoulder. He had practice coming up in a matter of days with his new team and though he was already on the team, he wanted to make a good impression. He knew YouTube videos caught the attention of more than just Harwood County High School Students and he was sure some of his new teammates had already seen video of him scoring against his own net. He was all for a little teasing, but he wanted everyone to know he was a great player. This was his chance at a scholarship and he would need the help of his team once scouts came to look for him.

Troy was training in the forest with Noah. Since they had gotten over their little disagreement, they wanted to spend more time together training. Noah, while he was great at what he did for the team, always had his doubts. It was true he wasn't the strongest or the fastest, and unless the aliens wanted to battle him in a game of chess, it wasn't likely he would come out as the victor without some help from his friends. It was the same in his personal life. Noah didn't get picked on because he was so close to Jake, and Jake had no problem putting bullies in his place, but Noah did want to see bullying end. Troy was teaching him some self-defence moves so that if Noah did get himself into a bit of trouble and there was no one else around, he would be able to stand his ground.

On his way over, Jake had seen Troy and Jordan at the park. By now, the Rangers all knew Jordan knew their secret, and Jake had been there when Jordan had found out. He had witnessed Jordan dropping an injured Emma and walking off without giving her time to explain. He was glad they made up, and he knew it wasn't any of his business, but he would keep a closer eye on Jordan just until he was sure he could be trusted with the pink Ranger.

Finally, the door opened and Jake looked up at Gia's father, "Is Gia home?"

"She's doing homework."

"Oh, uh, can I talk to her?"

"Joe, let the boy in," Mrs. Moran called from somewhere in the house. Jake saw Mr. Moran reluctantly open the door and invite him in. He picked up his soccer ball and stepped inside. Mrs. Moran directed him to Gia's bedroom then looked to her husband.

"He's the one who gave her the tiger," she smiled. Mr. Moran rolled his eyes.

"I hate boys."

Jake got upstairs and knocked on Gia's door. She called for him to walk in, but when he did she seemed surprised it was him.

"Jake? I thought you were my dad. What are you doing here?"

Jake pointed to the soccer ball, "Noah's busy and I thought it would be helpful to have a training buddy. I wanna show off when I go to my first practice."

"I don't play soccer," Gia turned back to her paper. Jake shrugged his shoulders.

"You had that awesome kick one-time. You're really smart, and amazing at everything you try. You'll figure it out. Besides, I just need to practice a few moves."

Gia let out a deep breath and closed her book. She turned to Jake and nodded, "Alright, I've got a couple of hours."

"That's all I need."

Gia followed Jake out the door and to the field. Half the soccer field was taken up by the school team. On weekends sometimes they would get together and play. They would come up with new strategies, offer each other some pointers, and sometimes it was really fun to get together. Jake saw Mick and Alex hanging out on the field and was about to turn to leave. Gia grabbed his arm.

"We have half a field. It's fine. Besides, don't you want to rub their noses in your promotion or whatever you'd call this?"

Jake sighed. He set down the bag and pulled out a net and some cones. He looked to Gia, "I don't get why you don't call the cops on them. What they did is disgusting."

Gia nodded her head, "We had proof for Cliff. I can't prove much with them. Besides, they aren't worth my time, right?"

"They're still telling people how they scored with you," Jake said. "They aren't playing it at all like it happened. They're saying you came on to them. You begged them to show you what real men could do."

"Real men don't go running around bragging about how they're real men. Just let it go, Jake, they'll get theirs."

"You are allowed to stand up for yourself, you know," Jake gave Gia a smile. "Even if you can't get them arrested for life, maybe you can shut them up."

Jake walked to the goal posts to set up the net. Gia followed him to see if he needed a hand. As he tied the net to the posts, he looked over at the other half of the field. The team was sitting around, enjoying a quick break from their practice to catch their breath, and they were all staring at Gia. Jake clenched his fists and didn't notice as Gia tried to pass him a strip of Velcro.

"Jake!"

"Sorry," Jake took the strip and tied up the net. Gia looked down the field and Jake turned to her. He could tell that though she was putting up a tough front, they were making her uncomfortable. "Stay here."

"Jake…"

"I'll handle it."

"Jake, it's fine."

"You don't have to put up with this. You deserve better," Jake abandoned setting up the net and walked across the field. Alex and Mick saw him coming and met him in the middle. Jake stood before them both. They had never been able to scare him. "If you have anything to say, say it to my face."

"We're proud of you, Jakey, that's all," Mick chuckled as Alex gave Jake a pat on the back, "Going after the big fish. If you need any tips…"

"She's not a fish, and I'm not going after her. She's my friend."

"They say no, but they don't know what they want. You've got to put the moves on her. The more she screams, the more she likes it."

"Jake," Gia came over and grabbed his arm. She could tell things between the three boys were getting intense. Jake seemed to be getting angry and Mick and Alex knew they were pushing his buttons. "We'll practice somewhere else."

"Hey, Gia," Mick turned to her with a twisted smile, "It's been a while. Miss us, yet?"

Gia tried to ignore him, as well as the looks Alex was giving her, but Mick placed his hand on the small of her back, and she could feel he was moving down. She pushed him away.

"Don't touch me."

Mick grabbed her arms as she shoved him and pulled her in closer. Gia tried to get away, fortunately, Jake jumped in quickly. He ripped Mick's hands away from Gia and pulled her away. He stood between her and the two boys. Mick chuckled.

"Playing damsel in distress? Here's a tip, Jakey: after playing the hero, you grab her, and claim your…"

"Shut up," Jake growled. Mick scoffed and bumped his chest into Jake's.

"What did you say?"

Jake shook his head and turned away, "I don't need to practice, Gia. Let's go."

"You've always been a coward, Holling."

"Jake," Gia held his arm. Jake placed his hand on her back and kept walking. He didn't care what Mick and Alex thought of him.

"You're pathetic, Jake. You're not even worth the dirty bitch's time. You can do so much better than him, babe! C'mon back, and you'll see what a real man can…"

Jake spun around, and before anyone could stop him he knocked Mick to the ground with a powerful punch to the jaw. As he stood over his fallen foe, he forgot about Alex and the rest of the team, and they fell on him quickly.

Suddenly, a loud whistle blew. It was loud enough to make everyone on the field stop what they were doing to cover their ears. A man came over, with what looked to be a soccer team behind him. These players were bigger, and they looked to be stronger than Mick and Alex's team. The boy backed off.

Jake lay in the grass and looked up at the sky, "Look, stars."

"Get off the field," Gia assumed it was the coach who was speaking, given his uniform looked different than the rest of the team. "We have a scheduled practice."

Alex helped Mick to his feet and scoffed, "We're done here."

As they walked off, Gia dropped to her knees beside Jake and leaned over him. He smiled goofily when he saw her.

"You're pretty."

"Jake, are you okay?"

"C'mon, kid," the coach offered his hand and pulled Jake to his feet. He brushed some of the dirt and grass off him and chuckled, "What were you thinking, messing with the whole team, like that?"

"He was standing up for me," Gia explained. She gave Jake a kiss on the cheek, "It was really sweet. Stupid, but really sweet."

Jake blushed deep red. He was still a little shaken, but the world was spinning just a little less. At least, now he had enough sense not to blurt out everything that came to mind. He massaged his head to hide the fact that he was blushing but then noticed he was standing in front of Coach McKnight – the coach for Harwood County's local team. In other words, his coach and his new team.

"You're… you're… You're Jake…"

"I'm Conner," the coach offered his hand; "I guess that means you're Jake."

"Jake Holling," Gia said for the bumbling black Ranger. She noticed the jerseys and the logos and made the same connections as Jake, "He'll be playing on your team in a few days."

"Right, the high school kid," Coach McKnight smirked, "Hey, only come to practice if you're good to play. After that beating, it'd be cool with me and the team if you took a day off."

"I'll be there. I have a head hard."

"A hard head," Gia corrected him. She held his arm to keep him steady as she walked him away, "Let's go back to my place. You can lie down for a bit. Sounds like you need it."

"Hey, Jake," Conner called before the two could leave, "Soccer's a non-contact sport. Remember that."

Jake nodded his head and stumbled off, putting most of his weight on Gia so he wouldn't fall over in front of his new coach and his team.


	47. A Kiss

Gia walked Jake back to his house after their run in with Mick and Alex on the soccer field. Fortunately for them, Jake's parents had gone out on a date night, and wouldn't be home for a couple of hours. Jake wasn't too badly beaten up. He had taken a few hits and kicks from his former team, but once the swelling went down and he got something to cover up the bruises, no one would be the wiser. Gia walked Jake to his couch, sat him down, and then went to the kitchen to get him some ice. When she came back, she gently placed the ice-pack on his cheek.

"We could have just walked away."

Jake shook his head, "Someone's got to shut them up."

"Not at the expense of your face," Gia answered. "What you did was really brave, Jake, but also really stupid. You could have gotten hurt."

"You'd have kicked their asses."

"Are you sure?" Gia asked. She let Jake take the ice-pack and leaned back into the couch, "After Cliff, I'm not sure I can…"

"I've never told you why I'm crushing on you, have I?" Jake said. He looked over at Gia and saw her shaking her head.

"I just assumed it was the same as everyone else. You thought I was hot."

"You are," Jake smirked, "That's a bonus, but there's more. You're super smart. You don't take other people's shit and you know how to stand up for yourself and the things you believe in."

"Yeah, because I've proven that, lately…"

"Stop doing that, Gia. You're all those things. Cliff's just making you believe otherwise. You've got to stop listening to him and start listening to the people who actually know you and care about you. I've seen you, Gia. When that freaky bee poisoned all of us, and you and Emma were fighting, you showed amazing strength."

"How so?"

"You were supposed to hate Emma, but even under the spell, you still fought with everything you had to protect her. That's tough. That's strength. And, I mean, look at me. I was told to hit Noah, and I couldn't stop myself no matter how hard I tried."

"Emma protected me."

"And she's strong too. You're just as strong as each other, but that's it, Gia, you are strong. You're smart, strong, beautiful, talented, and you would be so much more amazing if you didn't let Cliff hold you back."

Gia bit her lip and got up. She walked to the kitchen. Jake followed her and found her leaning against the counter. He put the pack of ice in the sink and looked over to her.

"I haven't changed my mind, Gia. I'm still madly crushing on you. I'll keep my space if you need it. I'd wait for you. I just want you to know, what happened with Cliff, before and now, doesn't change the way I see you or how I feel about you. And if it does, it just makes me admire you so much more."

"Why?"

"Because you've been through all this bullshit and you're still standing tall. You're still… you. You're just hurting."

"When Cliff and I were first dating," Gia kept her gaze on the counter, afraid to look over at Jake, but unable to stop herself from opening up, "Emma told me he was bad news and a part of me knew he was."

"She said that," Jake said, "You two had a falling out?"

"Cliff… he told me I was lucky to have him. He… he said he could have any girl he wanted, and that I should consider myself lucky he chose me. I thought he was right. I mean, he was the quarterback, the start of the team, the most popular guy in school, and the hottest. Every girl had a crush on him. The teachers loved him. He was perfect… on paper. So whenever he said it, I just… I went along with it. I agreed with him."

Jake clenched his fists but he let the story go. He knew from his own experiences that Gia needed to talk and he needed to listen.

"He started asking for more," Gia continued, "He started asking me to do things I wasn't comfortable with. I stood my ground at first and said no, but he's remind me I was lucky to have him and that he'd dump me if I didn't do as I was told. He told me no one would ever love me and that I was ugly and disgusting. I was fifteen, what else could I do but believe him. I did as he asked. I gave him everything he wanted and more because… I got desperate. Eventually he stopped asking. He just expected stuff from me. If I couldn't read his mind he'd get angry."

Gia shrugged her shoulders and sighed, "Everyone tells me he's wrong. Emma's been saying it forever. Serena would weave it in at least once every time we talked. Even her husband kind of said it. Mom and dad do, but they're my parents."

"I say it too," Jake nodded. "If you ask me, the whole thing should be reversed. He was lucky to have you. Hell, he never should have been lucky enough to go near you. He'd be lucky to see a picture of you."

Jake walked over and touched Gia's arm. He turned her slightly so she was facing him, "I'm serious, Gia, what Cliff did, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, and right now, that's him. No one deserves to be treated like that. And he's wrong. He's so wrong about everything. You're amazing, and you just have to believe in yourself."

"His voice is always there, though," Gia muttered. "I want to believe you. I really, really wish I could, but… not now."

"You have to start now," Jake looked at her with a soft, comforting smile, "Just… whenever you doubt yourself… just turn to me, or Emma, or Troy, Noah, or Jordan and just… tell us what you think. We'll be your outside voice until you're inside voice gets the message. We'll tell you the truth, I promise. And don't listen to anyone that tries to put you down. Cliff, Alex, Mick – none of them is a good voice."

Gia looked up and nodded her head, "It'll take time, Jake."

"Take your time. Get it right."

Gia smiled and leaned in to Jake for a hug, but he took it a step further. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a kiss. As soon as his lips touched her, she shoved him away. Jake stumbled backwards and then received a punch in the jaw. He knew his mistake. He landed on his back on the floor and looked up at Gia. She had tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry!" he tried to get up to his feet but she ran. He took off after her and grabbed her arm," Gia, please, I don't know what I was thinking! I'd never…"

"You did!" Gia screamed and punched him again, this time in the stomach. Jake let go of her arm to hold his stomach as he dropped to his knees. Gia slammed the door on the way out.

"Stupid, Jake," he groaned as he hugged his stomach and tried to get back up to his feet, "Dude, why are you so stupid?"

He walked back to the kitchen, knowing he would need the ice-pack back to keep the swelling and the bruising to a minimum. He couldn't explain at all what had come over him. He knew it was wrong, he knew he had hurt her, but his body had taken over for a moment, assuming that when she went in for the hug she wanted more. Some part of his brain had screamed no that entire time, but the beating he had taken on the soccer field must have stopped him hearing the voice in time.

He iced his face, knowing that would be what his parents would notice when they came home, and sat at the kitchen table. He held his head in his hands and focused on breathing to keep calm. He couldn't express how much he felt like an ass.

After a while, there was a knock on the door. Jake got up and checked to see who it was from the window. It was Emma, and she saw him peeking. He couldn't hide. He ran to the door to try and lock it before she could get in. He couldn't take another hit.

She beat him inside and shoved him roughly to the ground.

"Everything!" she screamed at him, "You've completely undone everything! Whatever you said, everything Serena said, and everything I've done! You ruined it, Holling!"

"Emma, I'm so sorry…"

"Gia trusted you."

"I didn't mean…"

"It's done! Whatever you meant to do or not, it happened. You screwed up! And it's going to hurt her!"

"I'm sorry," Jake got to his knees, "Please, just tell Gia I'm sorry."

Emma shook her head, "Stay away from her, Jake. Please, just stay away."

Jake nodded his head. Emma walked out of the house and stormed off down the street. Jake fell back to the floor and stared up at the ceiling. After a moment, there was another knock on the door. He looked up to see Noah and Troy.

"What…?"

"Jordan called. He said something about a kiss," Noah explained, "What happened?"

"What happened to your face?" Troy asked. The red and blue Rangers pulled Jake to his feet. Jake sighed.

"I did something really stupid…"


	48. Open Up

Jake had taken the boys up to his room so they could talk. His parents had come home and announced their arrival, but left the boys on their own. Jake sat on his bed with his head in his hands as he tried to keep calm.

He never wanted to hurt Gia and he knew he had done exactly that by kissing her. He didn't need Troy and Noah to tell him that; though once he was through with sharing with them what had happened they had. Gia had opened herself up to him, and in doing so she had made herself vulnerable. The walls had come down, she had shown him a true side to her, confided her doubts and feelings to him, and all he had done was take her and kiss her. By doing so, he made her think that he was just like the other guys she had trusted – he was just like Cliff. He broke her down, made her feel vulnerable, and then took what he wanted from her.

It wasn't the truth at all. He cared for her deeply. He was upset that this had possibly ruined any and all chances he had of eventually becoming something more than just a friend to her, but he was more upset by what he had done to her. Emma said that one kiss had undone everything Gia had worked towards since Cliff.

"Why would you kiss her?" Troy asked. Jake simply shook his head.

"I don't know. I have no idea what came over me. You've got to understand, we just got home from the soccer field, where Alex and the rest of the team kind of knocked me silly. I wasn't thinking straight and my brain couldn't tell my body to stop fast enough. By the time I knew what I was doing, she'd already pushed me away."

Noah took a closer look at the bruises on his best friend's face, "It's a good thing Serena showed us that make-up trick."

Noah reached for his bag but Jake turned his head away. He fell into his bed and groaned loudly, "I'm such an idiot."

"Maybe you just spooked Gia," Troy suggested, "You've done so much more for her than just that one kiss. Maybe we can talk her around. You are an idiot, Jake, but I think it's clear you never meant to hurt her."

"But what can I do?" Jake looked over to Troy sadly, "Emma won't let me speak to her, or even go near her, and if Gia's not comfortable with me, I'm not going to push her."

"Maybe that's just it," Noah said, "Don't push her. Don't try to talk to her about it, don't try to explain, just… wait."

"Wait?" Jake sat up and looked to Noah. The blue Ranger nodded his head.

"She'll see you at school, there's no staying away completely. Just keep your head down, show her, without forcing it, how ashamed you are."

"You mean act like he's upset?" Troy asked.

"Look at him," Noah gestured to Jake, "He's obviously miserable. He's ashamed. He's mad at himself. He's…"

"He gets it," Jake muttered.

"Show Gia this. Don't try to act like this doesn't hurt you. She was honest and open with you, so you need to do the same. Show her you're vulnerable too. Cliff, Mick, and Alex have never done that. At the very least, you'll be a different jerk from them."

"Wait for her to come to you," Troy gave Jake a gentle pat on the shoulder, "Act ashamed, then when she's ready to talk about it, show her how you really feel."

"Do you think that'll work?" Jake asked.

"At the very least, it'll give her a chance to hurt you back," Troy said. "You'd have to be willing to risk that, Jake. Let's be honest, she might tear you down if you do this. You might never get anything more from her."

"Friendship if you're lucky," Noah added while nodding his head.

"I can take it. Whatever she throws at me, I'll take it," Jake said. "I just really don't want to see her hurting like this. As long as she's okay, I'm okay."

"You're a good guy, Jake," Noah gave Jake's shoulder a comforting squeeze and then smirked, "Now, can I put make-up on you so your parents don't flip?"

"Too much is wrong with that sentence," Jake sighed but turned to look at his best friend, "Doll me up, I guess."

-Megaforce-

Jordan had gone home, knowing he wasn't needed in the Moran household. After what Jake had done, Jordan thought it best to keep his distance. He wished Emma a goodnight, and good luck, and left her to talk privately with Gia.

Gia sat in her bedroom, on her desk, looking out the window. She wasn't saying anything, but the tears streaming down her cheeks told Emma all she needed to know. Gia hugged her knees to her chest as Emma watched her from the bed.

"It's going to be okay, Gia. Jake… Jake seemed really sorry. He's a g…"

Emma trailed off with a heavy sigh. She wasn't sure she was saying anything that was comforting Gia, or even reaching her.

"You're okay with me, Gia, I promise. Nothing you say ever has to be repeated. Just get it all out, do that word of the day thing or… anything. Gia, please…"

Gia turned away from the window and looked at Emma. Then she nodded her head, silently inviting Emma over to the desk to sit. Emma hurried over and sat across from her best friend. Gia turned back to look out the window, but Emma looked to her. Finally, Gia spoke up.

"I thought I liked him."

Emma nodded her head, "You thought?"

"He's a good guy… he was? I'm not sure," Gia answered. She rubbed her legs and looked to her knees, "By now, I think it's really obvious he scored that goal against the team on purpose."

"He changed the talk around school," Emma said, "People went from you to him. They forgot all about the party."

"He told me he'd give me space, and he did," Gia continued, "I know he still likes me, but he stopped with the annoying pick-up lines, and the desperate attempts to get close."

"He does really like you."

"He quit the soccer team because he can't stand to be around Mick and Alex. They didn't even do anything to him. And the rest of the team was picking on him for that goal, but he only did that to help me."

"He's a bit of a martyr."

"Today, he invited me to the school fields. He wanted to practice, because he's on a new team and he wants to impress them. We… we went to the park but the field was already kind of taken. Mick and Alex and the rest of the guys were playing. I told him it was okay if we stayed. I… I could ignore them, but Jake wanted to leave."

"Did you?"

Gia shook her head, "We stayed, but the guys… I'm not sure what they did, but it was bugging Jake. He went to talk to them. He tried to defend me. Mick grabbed me, Jake made him let go. Then he… he stood in front of me. He protected me. I could see, that's all he wanted to do: shut them up, and make sure they couldn't hurt me. Mick said something, and Jake went off. He punched him. The team came after him. You probably noticed his face."

Emma nodded, "I thought that was you."

Gia sighed, "His new coach, Coach McKnight, happened to be there when the fight started. The new team got Alex and the others to back off. When the fight was over, I took Jake home. We talked, I said a few things, he said some things back and… he was really making me feel good about myself."

Gia looked straight at Emma, "When I talked to Serena's husband, he told me that one day, I was going to meet someone who… couldn't see my scars. Like how James can love Serena even though she's been broken before too. I thought he was wrong, but the way Jake's been lately, and the things he said to me about the way he feels… do you think he's real?"

"He really cares about you, that's for sure," Emma nodded her head. "I was going to say he's a really good guy, and kiss aside, I still mean it. And, all things considered, he's a huge step up from probably every other guy who's ever looked your way."

"But he still…" Gia clenched her fists, "Cliff said he cared about me, but we know he was lying."

"Cliff also hasn't been walking around wearing a woman's shirt for the past few days."

"I can't tell if I'm being lied to," Gia said. "What if… what if Jake's just more patient than those other guys? What if he's got some elaborate plan that ends once I give him what he wants?"

"Cliff said he cared about you, but did you believe him?" Emma asked. "I mean, really, deep down, where it mattered, you had to know he was lying, right?"

"I guess," Gia shrugged her shoulders, "I'd like to think I knew, and that I was just… stupid."

"You must have known. You had to have known. Think back, Gia, pretend you're fifteen again and… try to remember how you felt when Cliff said he cared about you."

Gia closed her eyes. There was pain on her face and the tears ran down her cheeks. Emma could see she was going back.

"I'm Cliff, okay?" Emma said, "I'm Cliff, and I care about you. What are you feeling?"

"Hopeful," Gia whispered, "Hopeful that you do mean it but… I'm not sure. I was never sure."

Emma smiled and as Gia opened her eyes she launched herself towards Gia and held her in her arms. She knew Gia needed a hug.

"Jake's said it to you," she whispered in Gia's ear, "What do you feel when Jake tells you he cares about you? Do you doubt it?"

"I can't help it…"

"Use that same instinct, Gia. The same feeling that made you doubt Cliff. I'm Jake now, and I care about you."

"Why?"

Emma pulled away from Gia, shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

"Why not? He seemed really sorry when I went to… yell at him. Gia, I think it was an accident. I doubt he meant to hurt you."

"I'm not… I don't want a relationship. I don't want a boyfriend. I can't give myself to someone when… when I don't even know who I am."

"What's the rush?" Emma asked her. "You're seventeen. We're all still young. You could be single for the next decade and still have plenty of time to find the perfect guy and settle down. You don't need to rush."

"What if Jake's the only guy?"

"He's not going to be the only guy," Emma chuckled and shook her head. She hugged Gia again. "It's going to be okay, Gia. Just take your time. If Jake, or anyone tries to pressure you, send them my way. I'll do to them what you did to Jordan."

Gia pulled away and looked to Emma sheepishly, "He told you?"

"He's got a bruise the size of your fist on his stomach," Emma held up Gia's hand, "I may not be a genius, but I'm not an idiot, either."

"One question: how did you see his stomach? Wouldn't his shirt…?"

"He took it off. It's kind of warm out."

"I don't want to know," Gia shook her head and then rested it on Emma's shoulder. "Thanks, Em."

Emma hugged Gia, "Anytime."


	49. Good Feeling

When she was sure Gia was feeling better, Emma retreated to her own room. There, she closed the door and locked herself in. She changed into her pyjamas for comfort, though sleep was also just around the corner. Before should go to bed, though, she sat down at her desk and opened her laptop.

Her parents leaving her for New York had crushed her. Serena's words about them giving her the bed made her feel better about their decision to leave, but she couldn't get over the abandonment and she doubted she ever would. She had no plans on going to New York to see them – ever – and she wasn't sure when or if they would return to Harwood County.

She didn't know what she wanted from her parents anymore. She didn't know if she wanted them to come back for visits, or if she wanted them to even keep in touch. Gia's parents and Serena insisted her parents did love her, and that they had a weird way of showing it, but Emma wasn't sure that their love was the right kind. She didn't need parents who loved her only enough to give her the things she needed. She wanted parents who cared for her and her successes, helped her through her failures, and who held her. She couldn't remember the last time her mother had given her a proper hug.

That was likely the reason she was so close to Gia. Emma had noticed a couple years back that she would always like to hold Gia, either take her arm, wrap her arm around her, or give her tight hugs. Until recently, Gia had been the only person in her life who would hold her and make her feel special and cared for. She had Jordan now, and she still had Gia, but no one could replace her parents.

Still unsure about what she wanted; Emma decided to go the safe route. She put her email address in the _"To…"_ box and then began to type out what she wanted to tell her parents. She put it all out there, feelings, how her day had gone, issues she had on her mind. She even talked about her responsibilities as a Ranger. She knew they weren't going to read it unless she wanted them to and so all her secrets were safe.

Mrs. Moran – Vanessa, Emma had to get used to calling her by her first name – had suggested this method. Emma would write her parents an email, but send the email back to herself. She could hold on to all her messages for the day she decided to finally talk to her parents, or, if she was too hurt to speak to them, they'd never have to hear from her, and Emma could yell and scream at them all she wanted without the risk of repercussions. It was a good idea, Emma felt, and so she tried to get one email written a night, the length depended on.

Mr. Moran – Joe – had given her another trick. "Never hit backspace", he said to her, and Emma tried her best to follow his advice by never taking back and never deleting anything she said. She didn't have to hide. No one in the house would ever invade her privacy, and no one would receive these emails. They were as private as her thoughts.

She said a few mean things to her parents. Things she was sure would hurt them if they heard, but it made her feel better. Getting all her emotions out made her feel a little lighter. At the end, she signed the email, hit send, and then closed the laptop. She crawled in to bed, turned off the light, and grabbed her bear. Her parents had given the bear to her as a child. It was the last gift they had given her that really meant something. In the last few years, they had forgotten her birthday, or had been on vacation and brought home a cheap souvenir. Her sweet sixteen had almost been a disaster because her parents had been touring Asia and wouldn't be home until the week later. Fortunately, Gia's parents had surprised her with a trip to the zoo. Emma didn't like the animals being kept in captivity for people to stare at them all day, but did appreciate the zoo in Harwood County because it always tried to teach it's guests something useful about the animals and had a huge charity to raise money to help the animals in the wild. Emma had learned a lot from the zoo tour guide, and even got to meet a couple of the animals up close.

Just as she was about to fall asleep, she thought she heard a noise. She dismissed it the first time, but heard it a second time and sat up.

"Gia?" she called softly and remembered she had locked her door to write the email. She threw off the blankets and got up to unlock it, thinking the noise she was hearing was Gia trying to get in. The girls had always had an open door policy with each other.

But as she got up to walk to the door, she heard the noise coming from outside the window. She thought it was just a squirrel and walked to the window to check it out. Before she made it over, her window opened and someone jumped in. Emma, startled, tripped over her own feet as she backed away from the window and landed on the floor. She tried to get up, but was grabbed from behind and a hand was placed over her mouth.

"Alex, c'mon, I got her."

Emma's eyes widened as she recognized that voice. Mick lived right next door to Gia, and his best friend, Alex, was usually always over. There was a fence between their yards, which meant they rarely saw each other, and Gia never usually headed home after school – usually stopping by Ernie's or going out to the woods with Emma. Though they were neighbours, it felt like they were miles apart.

Emma knew Mick and Alex fairly well, though. Before they had hurt Gia, she thought them to be okay guys. They had been a little self-centered and had a little sense of entitlement, but for the most part they kept to themselves and their soccer team.

However, they behaved poorly when their egos were bruised. Mick, once in overtime for a playoff game, missed a shot on goal and ended up screaming at the goalie and then at the ref until he was kicked off the field. Alex got angry once, and grabbed the water cooler from the other team and dumped it out all, leaving them with nothing to drink and more than half the game to go. But until the party night, Emma only saw that behave on the soccer field.

But they did have it in them to be rough, aggressive, and mean, and had been known for taking matters into their own hands. Emma could only assume that because Jake had punched Mick in the face in Gia's honour, they were getting back at him by going after Gia. They had no reason to attack Emma. No one in school outside Jordan and the Rangers knew Emma had moved in with Gia and her parents.

"Watch the door," Mick said to Alex as he dragged Emma on the bed and Alex ran across the room. He turned the doorknob but found it was locked. He smirked to himself.

"We're good. Door's locked. As long as she shuts up…"

Emma remembered she wasn't home alone. Gia was in the room next her hers, and Mr. and Mrs. Moran were just down the hall. If she could get Mick's hand away from her mouth and scream, they'd come running. She kicked her legs. Alex came over and pinned them down. She struggled to move her arms. Mick made the mistake of moving his hand away from her mouth to hold her down. Emma let out a piercing cry for help.

"Dude!" Alex cried to Mick when Emma finished screaming. Suddenly, there was a slam on the door, then the boys and Emma heard someone working on unlocking the door.

"Move!" a voice from the other side shouted. It was strong, and had Mick and Alex shaking in their boots as they scrambled to get out as quickly as they could. The door came open and Mr. Moran rushed in. He saw two boys in Emma's room and his instincts kicked in. As Mick tried to get out the window, Mr. Moran grabbed him by the belt and pulled him back in the room. Alex tried to run, but Mr. Moran grabbed him as well. Mrs. Moran rushed over and closed the window. She stood in front of it, in case the boys tried anything.

Gia stood at the bedroom door and turned on the lights to get a better look. She saw Mick and Alex, and then the horrified look on Emma's face. Gia growled and looked straight at her mother.

"They had a party about a month ago," she said, "Emma and I went, they spiked my drink, and while I was drunk, they had sex with me."

"What?" her mother cried. Her father pulled the boys' pants a little higher, giving them a painful wedgie, but letting them know he wasn't at all happy with what he had heard.

"You were asking for it," Alex said.

"Gia, stay with Emma," Mr. Moran started to walk out of the room but his grip was still tight on the boys' pants. "I'll be calling Mick's parents, then the cops."

"The cops? What'd we do?"

"You've always been funny, Michael," Mr. Moran was obviously not amused as he dragged the boys downstairs. Mrs. Moran walked over to Emma and held the frightened girl gently.

"Are you okay?"

Emma nodded her head, accepted the hug, and tried to breathe deeply to calm herself down. Mrs. Moran let go, promised to be back soon, and then left to deal with the boys downstairs. Gia walked over to the bed and pulled her best friend in her arms.

"What did they want with you?"

"You," Emma whispered. She looked up, "I thought you weren't going to bother with them. You said there was no proof."

"At least now we can catch them on something, right?" Gia said, "Maybe something will happen to them, or maybe they'll get off with a warning, but they're in our house and no one invited them in."

"Did your dad break the door down?"

"Kicked it," Gia nodded. "We heard you screaming. Dad's got this father instinct that turns him into the Hulk."

"I was scared," Emma whispered. Gia gave her a little squeeze.

"I know. It's done now."

Just then, the girls heard someone screaming Mick's and Alex's name from downstairs. They got up from the bed and look down the stairs. Mick's parents had come into the house and were obviously very disappointed in the boys. The disappointment only grew when Mrs. Moran told them where they caught the boys, and when Mr. Moran added the quick detail of the party.

Based on the shrills from Mick's mother, the party had happened without her knowledge, and that was the least of her concerns.

"You did what?!"

Emma chuckled and nudged Gia gently as Mick and Alex cowered under Mick's parents' statures.

"Feel better?"

"They want to call the cops, mom," Mick pleaded with his mother, but she shook her head.

"And they should!"

"I guess I'll be giving another statement to the police," Gia muttered and turned to Emma, "At this rate, I'll know the whole force by name."

"Last time, I promise," Emma said and took Gia's hand, "And I'll be there with you. They broke into my room and I was at that party. I took you home. We might win this one, Gia."

"What do you mean?"

Emma gestured down to the scene happening at the bottom of the stairs, "This is a victory if I've ever seen one. You stood up to them. You stood up for yourself without batting an eyelash. You're fearless."

"They attacked you. They aren't getting away with it."

Emma smiled and wrapped her arms around Gia, "I don't know if you know it, Gia, but you're coming back."

Gia gave a little smile and looked down the stairs, "You know, it feels really good."


	50. Confrontations

Though the plan was to show Gia how upset and ashamed at himself he was, Jake didn't need to try very hard to be convincing. In fact, he wasn't sure anyone could see exactly how badly he was hurting. The kiss, knowing how it had upset and likely freaked Gia out was killing him from the inside out.

He walked into school and watched his feet move. He didn't care where he was going or if he bumped into anyone. He made it to his locker, but because he wasn't paying attention he couldn't see where he was going and smacked his head into it. He groaned loudly, opened his lockers, and shoved his bag and all his books inside. Then he closed his locker and stared at it.

Suddenly, he was pushed into his locker. He hit his face again, but he didn't care. He was then grabbed roughly by the shoulder and spun around. He was slammed again into his locket, this time hitting the back of his head.

"You called the cops on them, punk?"

Jake looked up and saw Ryder, the school's soccer goalie – and an amazing one at that. Ryder shoved him into his locker again, and grabbed his shirt. He pinned him up against the lockers and growled, "You're really screwing us over, Holling."

Behind him was the rest of the soccer team. Jake looked Ryder in the eyes.

"I didn't do anything."

"Mick and Alex were kicked off the team. Coach won't even let them come to practice. Ms. Chesterfield won't let them leave her office until their parents pick them up, and there are two cops standing outside the doors to make sure they don't leave. They can't leave their house, unless they get a police escort to take them to school. They can't go anywhere unless there's a cop there! What the hell did you do, Holling? We have a big game coming up."

"I called the cops."

Jake, Ryder, and the team turned their heads. Gia had just gotten to school, with Emma right behind her. Emma was holding Gia's school bag on her shoulder, and seemed to be standing back while Gia…

Gia was pissed.

Ryder let go of Jake, smoothed out his shirt and then took a step back. He gave Gia a nervous, tried to be playful grin. The look on Gia's face was a threat and most boys in the school knew it very well. Her buttons had been pushed and she was ready for a kill.

"We were just…"

Gia's eyes narrowed slightly. Ryder turned around and called out to his team, "We'll be late for practice…"

"Practice is cancelled," Gia announced to them. "I had a quick chat with the coach this morning. Told him about the little incident on the field, explained what happened at the party…"

"_All students please report to the auditorium for a mandatory assembly. Attendance will be taken."_

"Whoops," Gia said and smirked mischievously.

"C'mon, guys," Ryder led the team down the halls and followed the crowd of students as they made their way down to the auditorium for the big announcement.

Jake stood by his locker as the halls cleared out. When it was just him and the girls, he sighed, turned to his locker to open it, and then tried to make himself look busy."

"The assembly's mandatory, Jake," Gia walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll get there," Jake breathed. "Did you really call the cops on Mick and Alex? Gia, I'm fine…"

"I called them for me," Gia said, "We caught them sneaking into Emma's room over the weekend. Emma screamed for help before anything could be done but no one hurts Emma and gets away with it."

"You've proven that," Jake nodded. "You did the right thing."

"Mick and Alex have been assigned a probation officer. They're being watched constantly and when they aren't at home under the watchful eyes of their parents, they're in Ms. Chesterfield's office. She insisted they stay in school and get an education. Plus, it's better than the alternative."

"Their lives being ruined, and rightfully so?"

"No more school work and days spend on the couch playing video games, although, I doubt that would happen. They've got a lot of community service hours to complete."

"Good for you, Gia, I mean that," Jake whispered. He closed his locker and started to the auditorium, but Gia grabbed his arm.

"Jake, about the kiss…"

"I'm so sorry, Gia," Jake couldn't look up at her, "You didn't deserve that and…"

"Don't let it happen again," Gia smiled, "At least, not like that. You really freaked me out."

Jake finally looked up at Gia and saw the threatening demeanour she had used against Ryder and the soccer team had completely disappeared and had been replaced with a sweet and gentle smile.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," he whispered, "I had no idea what came over me."

"I trusted you, Jake… and against my better judgement… I'll trust you again," it looked to Jake as though that was hard for Gia to say, and he knew it was. She wasn't just trying to forgive him, but she was trying to trust him again. He had hurt her badly. He didn't deserve this chance.

"I'm really sorry," he whispered and then hurried to the auditorium.

Emma walked over to Gia and passed over her bag. She noticed the yellow Ranger's hands were a little shaky.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah."

"I told you, you had it in you," Emma gave her best friend a comforting hug. "You're strong, loyal, and very sweet."

"Sweet?"

"I won't tell the others," Emma chuckled. "I'll let you keep that tough girl image if it makes you feel safer."

"For now," Gia nodded her head. "Ms. Chesterfield says we can either attend the assembly, or come back for third period. Personally, I've lived through all this shit, I don't need the lectures."

"Ernie's, then, my treat."


	51. I Forgive You

After school, Noah stopped by the computer lab to work on the Harwood Social Hub. He had been thinking about Gia's suggestion to turn the social hub into a site where students came together to help and support each other with every day and even some more extreme problems. After sitting through an assembly that lasted two periods and dealt with assault, abusive relationships, date rape, and inappropriate sexual behaviour, Noah thought the idea for the Hub would be a great one.

Only there was one problem. Nothing was safe on the internet. Something posted, even for just a couple of minutes, had the possibility of spreading worldwide. There was no privacy and certainly no protection. People made careers out of hacking into personal websites, pages, and could get enough personal information about stranger to really harm them if they put enough effort into it.

More than that, kids were mean. Nothing was ever taken seriously by some people. A big issue could be an opportunity for a bully to poke fun at and shatter another person. Noah wanted the Hub to be a safe space. He wanted to minimize flames, rude comments, and spam. To do that, he had a lot of work ahead of him. He was bracing himself for a late night.

He was so focused on his laptop that he failed to notice a girl walking over to him. She cleared her throat at first, hoping to catch his attention, but Noah didn't hear her. Then she tapped his shoulder. Noah jumped, startled. He turned around and saw the girl.

"Sorry?"

"Is this seat taken?" she pointed to the chair right next to his. Noah looked around the near empty computer lab. There were many more seats to choose from; seats that were further away and offered him and her more privacy.

However, the seat was not taken.

"No."

"Do you mind if I sit here?" she asked. "This is kind of my lucky computer."

Noah shrugged his shoulders, "I guess not."

She smiled as she sat down. She turned on the computer. While she waited for it to start, she peeked over to Noah's screen.

"You're working on the Hub?"

Noah nodded his head, "Yep."

"I love what you've done with it," she leaned in a little closer. "I signed up as soon as you got it running. I think it's a really cool idea."

"Thanks," Noah kept his eyes on his work. He didn't want to chat.

"What are you working on now?"

"A new idea."

"For the Hub?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sure it's great. You know, I've seen some of your work around the school. You're really smart."

"Thanks."

"The robot hand you made at last year's science fair was a true work of genius. It deserved a ribbon."

"It malfunctioned."

"Maybe I could help. I don't know much about robotics, but I'd been willing to lend a hand. I'm eager to learn."

"I work better on my own."

"Noah!" another voice called for him. Noah turned to the door of the computer lab and saw Troy waving him over, "Did you forget? We're meeting up for training."

"Training?" the girl asked. Noah groaned. He had forgotten. He closed his laptop and packed it away in his bag.

"Troy's just teaching me a few self-defence stuff," Noah explained so she wouldn't get suspicious. Jordan had already put the pieces together. Noah didn't need some girl figuring out where he, Troy, and the other Rangers were running off to. "Monster attacks are more common, and I'd like to be able to stand my ground, you know, just in case."

"You have been getting bigger… uh, in the muscular way. You're looking good, Noah; brains and brawns."

"I've got to go," Noah said and he hurried off with Troy. He put his bag on his shoulder and adjusted it so it was comfortably in place. Troy shook his head as he walked down the hall.

"Seriously?"

"What?" Noah turned to him.

"You're looking good, Noah. You have brains and brains," Troy did his best to mimic the girl's voice while batting his eyelashes and looking mock-lovingly at Noah. The blue Ranger groaned.

"She was so annoying."

"Annoying?" Troy glanced over his shoulder and then smirked, "I'm not really into the whole nerd thing, but she was kind of cute."

"I didn't notice."

"Seriously?"

"I was trying to work," Noah explained. "I don't know why she wanted to sit right next to me. She said something about a lucky computer…"

"She was flirting with you."

"She… she was?"

Troy nodded his head, "I've been on the receiving end of it a couple of times. I know when it's happening. She was crushing hard on you, Noah. You can't tell me you didn't notice."

"I didn't," Noah shook his head and then shrugged, "And anyways, I'm not interested."

"In her?"

"At all."

"Really?" Troy asked. He then furrowed his brow and grabbed Noah by the arm, stopping him for a moment, "In any girl?"

"Not really."

"So, you like… guys?"

Noah frowned and pulled his arm away from Troy. Troy quickly tried to recover.

"Look, it doesn't matter to me. Back in Panorama, I trained at a dojo, and both my senseis there were gay. I never thought any less of them or treated them any different. You're still Noah."

"And I'm not gay," Noah shook his head, "I'm not interested in dating at all. I thought you'd understand."

"Me?"

"You're not exactly flirting with girls, are you? C'mon, we don't need to be dating anyone just because we're in high school."

Troy gave Noah a pat on the back, "Whatever makes you happy."

"My work," Noah tapped his bag, "I'd like to focus on that. I want to turn the Hub into something great and make sure I stay on top of my school work. I'd like to be able to graduate top of the class."

"If anyone can do it, it's you," Troy said, then he offered Noah a smile, "You know, I really admire that."

"What?"

"You know what you want. The lone wolf thing."

"You're the lone wolf," Noah chuckled. "I just… work better on my own. I don't want to waste my time dating. When the right girl comes along, maybe I'll change my mind, but for now, I just want to focus on my interests."

"And training?" Troy said, "You'll have no interests to focus on if the Earth is destroyed."

"And training," Noah nodded his head.

-Megaforce-

Jake, Gia, Emma, and Jordan arrived at the training grounds. Emma had invited Jordan along for two reasons. The first was to show him how the Rangers worked together in battle, and how they kept up their training to grow stronger and stay one step ahead of the aliens. She figured if Jordan could get a little behind-the-scenes, he would feel more comfortable watching her run into battles.

The second reason she brought him was to get him training a little. She had never been a fan of superheroes and comic books growing up, but she wasn't blind to the dangers Jordan was in now that he knew her identity. She prayed it would never happen, but just in case Jordan got too involved, or caught in the middle of a battle, she wanted him to be able to defend himself at least until help arrived. She couldn't stand the thought of him getting hurt.

"You're not still training with plastic jugs?" he teased as he looked around.

"Those were recycled," Emma smiled, "Today's hand to hand combat. In other words, it's training Noah and me day."

"Why?"

"Troy's insanely good with martial arts," Emma sighed, "Gia's good at anything she tries, and picks up on everything easily, and Jake's naturally athletic. Noah and I are kind of… bottom two."

"Don't Ranger suits kind of… give you super powers? Like super fighting skills, or super strength, or…"

"Super protection," Emma shrugged, "but even you've seen, sometimes that's not enough. The suits help a little bit, but Noah and I are still on the bottom when it comes to hand to hand combat."

"I'm sure you're still better than me," Jordan smirked. Emma smiled back.

"I guess we'll see. Once Noah and Troy get here, we'll partner up and you can show me what you've got."

"Just no morphing," Jordan laughed. "It's an unfair advantage."

Over by a log, Jake sat and used a stick to trace lines in the dirt. He and Gia had talked earlier in the day about the kiss they had shared over the weekend, and she had told him he was forgiven, but Jake still couldn't shake the feeling of shame. He had taken advantage of her when she was vulnerable. She trusted him at a time where she couldn't trust anyone, and he had betrayed that trust.

Gia sat down beside him, "Emma wants to train with Jordan, Noah's probably going to want to get some pointers from Troy, so that just leaves us."

"You don't have too…"

"Jake, it's fine," Gia assured him and touched his arm. Jake shifted down the log, away from her. Gia sighed, "I did freak out, okay, and I didn't like it. I still don't like what you did. But Emma talked with me after it happened and… you're not like the other guys, Jake. We're okay."

Jake shook his head, "Just… train with Noah or Troy today. Please, Gia, I can't…"

"It's okay."

"No it's not!"

"It was a mistake."

"One that shouldn't have happened," Jake got up and clenched his fists. "I don't want to be that guy, Gia."

"You're beating yourself up over nothing, Jake," Gia stood up and touched his arm. She tried to make him face her, but Jake turned away again. "I'm sorry I freaked out. I'm sorry I…"

"You shouldn't be. You… you did exactly what I would expect you to do; what I would have wanted you to do."

"Jake…"

"If that had been any other guy, Gia, I'd have been proud of you for putting your foot down and running. I'd have been proud of you for knowing what you wanted, for smashing his face in, and getting away. And I would have kicked his ass the moment I saw him."

"That's what makes you different…"

"I am that guy, though! I made you open up to me and as soon as you were vulnerable, as soon as I knew I had you where I wanted you, I did what I wanted. I hurt you so I could get what I wanted! That's disgusting!"

Gia grabbed both of Jake's arms and looked to him, "Tell me that's what you wanted to do. Tell me you weren't thinking of anything except getting your way when you kissed me. Tell me you orchestrated everything between us to lead to that moment."

Jake looked Gia in the eyes, "I hurt you. I can't stand the thought. I'm sorry."

He pulled away. Gia tried to grab him, bring him back, but he rushed off into the woods just as Noah and Troy arrived. She turned to Noah, hoping he could maybe help her.

"What's going on?" Noah asked. He had seen Jake running off and was concerned.

"He's still upset about the kiss," Gia explained. "I told him it was okay but he's beating himself up for it."

"Do you forgive him?" Noah asked. Gia nodded her head.

"Yeah. He won't believe me."

"I can talk to him," Noah sighed. He started to leave but Gia shook her head. She grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"I'll do it. I'm the only person who can convince him I've forgiven him."

"Don't go too far!" Emma cried as Gia rushed off.


	52. There Is No Monster

_Author's Note: Before I'm asked, yes, I will be introducing Robo Knight, but at a later date. I'm several chapters ahead in my writing which will put me an episode or two behind the episodes as they air in the States. As it stands right now, and unless I do some major shuffling in my future chapters, I won't be introducing Robo Knight for another week._

_Enjoy the chapter!_

Training was both a comfort and an ego bruiser for Jordan.

After Jake ran off, and Gia went after him, training continued as usual. Jake wouldn't be stupid enough to go too far away from his friends, or to turn off his morpher, and Gia had promised Emma and the boys she would keep hers on and close at all times, and that if she couldn't find Jake in a timely manner, she would come back so the team could search as a team.

But as training continued, Jordan took a beating from his girlfriend. Emma pulled her punches, she didn't actually want to hurt Jordan, but she still knocked him down, flipped him, tripped him, punched him, kicked him, and dropped him more times that he could count. She had a bit of an advantage. Jordan couldn't bear to hurt her again. Though she had forgiven him for being dropped and abandoned at a time where she needed him, Jordan couldn't let it go. He never wanted to see her suffer any kind of pain like that again, especially at his hands.

She was also a Ranger, and as it turned out, the weakest of the Rangers was still stronger than most. Jordan wasn't surprised. Emma, on a daily basis, had to fight monsters bigger, stronger, and tougher than he.

He was proud of her, and very happy she was stronger than he was. It made him feel better knowing she could take care of herself in battle, and knowing she had a better chance of coming out alive than he would if he ever took her place. However, the boyfriend, and the man inside of him wasn't thrilled to know that his girlfriend could kick his ass.

He hit the ground and lay on his back for a moment. He was sore, but he had known he would be before he started training. Emma stood over him, giggling, and held her hand out. She helped him up.

"You've got a great technique," she said with a laugh. Jordan rubbed his head.

"I do?"

"For getting killed."

He playfully shoved her, "What if I want to die?"

She wrapped her arms around him and pouted. He couldn't resist her look and leaned in for a kiss.

A cry from Troy pulled them apart, and they turned in time to see Troy lying on the ground, with a panicked and remorseful Noah trying to help him up while apologizing profusely.

"Troy, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to throw you so hard! I'm sorry! I…"

"It's fine," Troy accepted Noah's help and got to his feet. He brushed away some of the dirt and chuckled, "We're training, Noah. I know it's nothing personal. In fact, I'm impressed."

Noah smirked and remembered why it was he wanted to flip Troy. His training in martial arts had been non-existent before the Ranger gig, and he had seriously doubted his ability to be a good Ranger because he wasn't the strongest fighter on the team. He had started taking lessons with Troy, and would more often agree to join Jake for soccer practices to build up his cardio, but until this very moment, he hadn't realized how much progress he was making.

"You are?"

"You're learning quickly. Maybe that girl at the computer lab was right, you'll be brains and brawns in no time."

"Ha-ha," Noah rolled his eyes. Emma and Jordan came over and caught the last end of the boys' conversation. Emma turned to Noah with a playful smile.

"There's a girl? Who is she? Is she cute? Were you flirting with her?"

"No," Noah shook his head, "I don't want to date. I have no interest in it, or girls."

"So, you're…" Jordan was about to ask but Noah groaned loudly and shook his head.

"I'm straight!"

"Because it's fine if…"

"I like girls," Noah said, "And maybe one day I might settle down _with a girl_, but not now. I don't want to date. I'd rather be at home working on my projects or getting ahead in school. I'd like to figure myself and my life out before I get someone else wrapped up in it."

"Your choice," Jordan shrugged, "but you are missing out."

He wrapped his arms around Emma and hugged her tight. Noah simply rolled his eyes.

"Check back with me when you two need to decide where you'd rather go to college: school of your dreams or school close to each other."

"I'd be happy making it to graduation," Emma said, "Anything after that is up in the air at this point. The world might not even exist."

"We'll make it to college," Troy assured her, "We just have to believe in ourselves and keep up with our training. As long as we never give up, we can win."

"And I'm willing to help whenever you guys need me. You know, as an alibi or a secret messenger or something cool."

"You're staying away from this Ranger business as much as possible," Emma looked up at Jordan. "It's bad enough you know. I'd never ask you to cover for us. If we're not where we're supposed to be, you have no idea where we are. And, unless we're alone, the first time you see me with bruises, cuts, or scars, you need to be worried."

"That last one won't be hard to do," Jordan said, "but I can't just sit back…"

"Please," Emma looked up at Jordan pleadingly, "don't get involved. If anything happened to you…"

"If anything happened to you, I couldn't live with myself."

Noah leaned over and whispered to Troy, "Reason number two for not wanting a girlfriend right now."

"Good call," Troy nodded.

-Megaforce-

Further in the woods, Gia came to a stop, pausing her search for a quick moment to have a look around and hopefully find a sign as to where Jake had gone. She knew he had to be close, but she couldn't find him.

"Jake, please," she cried out, hoping he was listening, "You're worrying me!"

She decided to take a chance and strayed slightly off the path. She would keep it in sight, but knew that if Jake wanted to hide, he wouldn't stay in plain sight. She wandered through the bushes and the overgrown grass, and gently pushed aside branches and leaves. It was then she noticed something odd.

An eight foot bug-like monster stood before her. Gia grabbed her bag and tried to get it open so she could reach her morpher and call the others, but the Insectoid spotted her first. Quickly, he flew over to her, swiped at her with one of his long, skinny arms, and as Gia fell to the ground, he grabbed her bag. Gia rubbed her chest and glared at the monster. He ripped her bag open and started to go through it.

"Books, books, books," he tossed them to the ground after he pulled them out and rolled his eyes, "Humans are so boring… oh, what's this?"

He pulled out her morpher. Gia saw it and lunged. The monster held out his hand and blasted her with a stinger. Gia dropped to the ground.

"You're a Power Ranger," the Insectoid stood over her and waved her morpher in her face. Gia reached out to grab it, but he grabbed her wrist. Gia didn't even see his hand move. He was fast. He wrapped his hand around her wrist and squeezed tightly, all while bending it in a direction it wasn't supposed to go. Gia cried out in pain and dropped to her knees again. The Insectoid reached into her bag again. This time, he pulled out a stuffed tiger toy.

"Boring," he tossed the tiger over his shoulder and then looked down at Gia. Her wrist was in agonizing pain as it felt like the monster was crushing and snapping it, but she needed to fight. She swung her legs out and knocked the Insectoid off his feet. As he fell, he let go of her wrist. He hit the ground with a large thud.

Gia picked herself up from the ground, snatched her morpher and her bag from the Insectoid and then ran to collect the tiger. Her books she could come back for later. As she scooped the tiger up, she felt something grab her around the waist and lift her up. The Insectoid had wasted no time getting to his feet, and flew over to grab her. Then, he flew a couple of feet in the air and held Gia tightly in his grasp. Gia squirmed in his arms, until she felt something bit into her shoulder. She let out a cry before her body relaxed.

"You'll feel better in a moment," the Insectoid told her as he slowly lowered himself to the ground. He lay Gia down gently, "At least, that's what you'll tell your friends."

After putting her down, he saw she had dropped her morpher. He'd let her live, but he wouldn't make the same mistakes as monsters past. He grabbed her morpher, waved it in front of her face, and then got up.

"A pretty prize," he turned his back to Gia to walk off, but was suddenly blasted from behind. He fell forward, dropped the morpher, and as he tried to roll over, he spotted the black Megaforce Ranger.

"Uh-oh! Time to go!" his wings started to flap as they picked him up and carried him off, but not before he snatched up the yellow Ranger's morpher. Jake blasted at him several times until he was gone. Unfortunately, all his shots missed.

"Dammit!" he cried as he watched the bug disappear. Then he turned around and looked at Gia. He powered down as he knelt beside her, "You okay?"

"Yeah."

Jake breathed a sigh of relief and helped Gia sit up. There was a look of pain on her face as he moved her, but when he asked again, she insisted she felt fine. Jake let her lean back on him, and then handed her the tiger he had bought her.

"You carry this around in your bag?"

"No."

Jake looked confused; "Then how did it get here?"

"It walked."

"Gia, are you _sure_ you're okay."

"I'm _fine_."

"I'll take you home."

"I don't want to go home."

"I guess we should clean you up a bit first. We'll find Emma and the others…"

"That's a bad idea."

"Why?"

"They aren't going to help."

"What?" Jake looked seriously confused as he helped Gia to her feet. "Why wouldn't they help? We're a team. Emma's your best friend…"

"No she's not."

"That alien did something to you," Jake stated. He wasn't entirely sure, but it was the only answer he had and the only reason that made sense.

"He didn't. I'm fine. He didn't hurt me."

"Gia, when there is an alien around…"

"There was no alien."

"He was… never mind. Let's just take you back."

"I don't want to go back," Gia said, but she didn't put up any fight as Jake walked with her. He called the others and hoped they were still in the woods training so he didn't have to go too far. In spite of what Gia said, there was something wrong, and he didn't want to wait too long to find out what it was.


	53. No Lying In This Chapter

The Rangers and Jordan met up with Jake and Gia halfway between where the alien had attacked Gia and the training ground. Once they were together, Troy asked for Gosei to teleport them to the command center. Jordan was left behind. Though he knew about the Rangers, Emma wanted to keep his knowledge very limited. He wasn't allowed to meet Gosei or Tensou, or go inside the base. The less he knew the better for him.

So he set off for home and hoped he wouldn't run into any monsters on the way. Jake had assured him that the monster that had attacked Gia disappeared, but Jordan could never be certain. He walked home carefully, keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of trouble, until he made it back safely.

Back at the command center, Tensou pushed over a chair so Gia could sit and the team gathered around her. Emma stood before her and looked her in the eyes.

"What happened, Gia?"

"I was picking flowers."

"One of the Warstar's monsters," Jake said and looked to Gosei; "I was in the woods and heard her scream. I came as soon as I could but not soon enough. He did something."

Gosei's eyes were lit, so he was listening, but he didn't say anything. Emma continued to question Gia.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"What did the monster do to you?"

"We had a picnic."

"Gia, be serious."

"I don't want to. I'm not trying to."

Noah decided to try his hand. He touched Emma's shoulder and moved her away gently before looking to Gia.

"Okay, we know some aliens have strange effects on us. Are you under some kind of spell?"

"No! I was in the city, on my way home from school…"

Noah looked to Gia strangely, "You were in the woods. You were going after Jake."

"No I wasn't," Gia clenched her fists before beating them down into the armrests. Then she let out a sigh. She looked like she was trying hard to focus, "I'm… not under a spell. Nothing happened. I was at school doing homework."

"Let me try something," Troy had been watching closely hoping he could get some answers based on Gia's behaviour. He had an idea in his head but before he said it, he wanted to see if it was right. He looked at Gia, "Who am I?"

"Malcolm."

Noah turned to Emma, "Who's Malcolm?"

She shrugged her shoulders and continued to look worriedly at Gia.

Troy asked her another question, "What colour is your shirt?"

"Orange."

"Where do you go to school?"

"Reefside High."

"It's all wrong," Noah said. "Is that what happened?"

"Nothing happened," Gia said but looked hopefully to her friends. She needed them to figure it out. She couldn't tell them.

"It's all lies," Gosei corrected Noah, "Gia cannot tell the truth."

"Is that true?" Emma turned to her best friend.

"No."

Jake scratched the back of his neck, "Okay, I'm confused. Did something happen?"

"No."

"Check for a bite or sting mark," Gosei ordered. Emma turned back to Gia.

"Were you bit by something?"

"No."

Troy tried his hand, "Where weren't you bitten?"

"My shoulder," Gia answered and looked relieved. Emma moved Gia's hair away and took a close look. There was a slightly swollen bump on her shoulder with what Emma could only assume were teeth markings. Emma nodded her head.

"The Insectoid is gone for now," Gosei announced, "I will alert all of you as soon as he returns. However, you must be careful Rangers. His bite is poisonous. Once infected…"

"You can't tell the truth?" Jake asked, "As long as we can fight, what does it matter what we say? We all know it's just lies."

"Gia, how are you feeling?" Gosei asked her. Gia looked to him.

"Good."

Emma sighed as she helped Gia out of the chair and wrapped a comforting arm around her, "We'll get you home."

Gia nodded, but before she could go home with Emma she stopped and turned to Jake. She gave him a smile.

"I enjoyed the kiss, Jake, and you really should be ashamed of yourself."

"Wait… what?" it wasn't at all what Jake was expecting to hear.

"I can't trust you anymore, Jake. If you're going to feel this good about something so amazing, I know I can't trust you. There's no way I can forgive you. You've shown me you're just like all the others. I don't care for you, Jake. Not at all."

"Gia…"

Gia gave Jake a smile and then walked away and kept close to Emma, leaning on her for support.

Noah turned to his best friend. It was confusing what he was hearing, and it took him a moment to decipher what Gia was saying, but he managed to figure it out. Jake, however, still looked very confused and hurt by what Gia said.

"She can't tell the truth," Noah reminded Jake, "Everything she says _has _to be a lie."

"Yeah… but… What does that mean?" Jake rubbed his head and let out a groan, "Now I have a headache."

"I'll explain it to you on the way home," Noah said with a laugh. He waved Troy over, "We should probably stick together until that bug comes back."


	54. She's Not Really Sick

"Girls, you're home," Mrs. Moran called from the kitchen when she heard the door to the house opening without a knock and assumed it was Gia and Emma coming home. "You're just in time for dinner. I'm making pizza."

"I'm not hungry," Gia said and then turned to Emma and groaned. Emma gave her arm a gentle squeeze.

"I guess that means you are. Go upstairs, I'll bring you up something in a minute."

Gia did as she was told and fled up the stairs before her parents could see her while Emma walked into the kitchen. Mr. Moran was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper like usual before dinner. Mrs. Moran was by the oven and checking up on the pizza.

"Homemade?" Emma asked. Mrs. Moran nodded her head.

"I came home early from work just to make it."

"And you remembered to make mine…"

"Vegetarian," Mrs. Moran chuckled, "I wouldn't forget. By the way, sweetheart, there's a postcard on the counter from your mother."

Mrs. Moran pointed to the corner of the counter, where a car with a picture of the Eiffel Tower sat among the rest of the mail. Emma looked to it undecidedly. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear from her parents just yet. She was happy to stay in Harwood, but her nightly emails were still full of anger and pain. She hadn't yet moved on from them leaving her without a proper goodbye.

Seeing Emma looked uncertain, Mrs. Moran picked up the card and stored it away, "It won't be thrown out, but you don't need to read it now."

"Have you read it?"

Mrs. Moran shook her head. Emma turned to Mr. Moran. He was trying not to look at her.

"Mr. Moran…"

"Joe," Mr. Moran corrected her. Now that she was living with him and he had taken over caring for her until she was old enough to decide where she wanted to live and she could care for herself, Mr. Moran wanted Emma to feel a lot more at home and comfortable with him. He insisted she call him by his first name because it was more personal and because she was family. No one in his family referred to him as Mr. Moran. "I didn't read it, but when I was checking through the mail I caught a glimpse of it. Enough to see what I saw."

"You don't look very happy," Emma took her seat at the table.

"It's not about the postcard. I'm sure your mother does miss you, and I'm sure she knows she did the right thing."

"Serena explained that," Emma nodded her head, "The best thing mom could do for me was let me go."

Mrs. Moran pulled the pizza from the oven, checked to see it was ready, and then began to cut it into pieces. Though she hated the decision Emma's mother had made, it was the right one. Claire loved to travel and shop, and would rather see the world over anything else, including raising her daughter. Emma spent days to weeks on her own while her father took off on business trips and her mother took off on vacations. Sometimes they went together, sometimes they went their separate ways, but they always left Emma at home.

Mrs. Moran never wanted to take Emma away from her best friend. She and Vanessa had known each long before the girls were born and promised to keep an eye on the other's daughter in case something were to happen. When Mrs. Moran started to notice the trips were longer and there was less time spent at home with Emma, she had been looking for a way to take Emma under her own roof, where she could keep an eye on the girl permanently. In other words, she had considered adopting Emma.

She remembered an incident about a year back. Claire and Jeff had gone together on a trip for their honeymoon and left Emma along in the house for three weeks. They left behind enough money for groceries, and some spare cash for emergencies, but that was it.

One day, while coming home from work, Mrs. Moran got a call on her cell phone from Gia. As usual, when Emma's parents were out of the house, the girls would spend time together and take advantage of the empty house. Mrs. Moran allowed it as long as Gia was home every few nights (Emma was invited to stay over with the Moran's on those nights).

The call from Gia had been a terrifying one. Emma hadn't turned up at school that day because she hadn't been feeling well. She had called Mrs. Moran in the morning to have her phone the school to let them know she wouldn't show up. Gia, as usual, stopped by after school to check up on and hang out with her best friend. When she got to Emma's house, no one answered the door. Gia invited herself in, but there was no one in the house.

A sick Emma was an Emma who liked to stay in bed, so Gia went up to her room. She knocked before entering, but no one invited her in. She entered anyways to find Emma sleeping in her bed. Only when Gia tried to wake her, she wouldn't get up. Mrs. Moran had Gia call for an ambulance, and met up with her daughter in the emergency room at the hospital. Emma got to the hospital in time for the doctors to treat her quickly, but if they had waited any longer, Mrs. Moran wasn't sure what would happen.

As they waited on news about Emma in the emergency room, Gia used Emma's phone to try and contact the Goodalls. It took several tries before she got through.

Mrs. Moran had considered getting a lawyer and taking over custody of Emma at that time. She found one willing to take up the case, but dropped it when Emma's parents returned home. Mrs. Moran saw the look on her best friend's face as she hugged her sick daughter and couldn't go through with the case.

Now, a year later, she wished she had. It likely would have torn her and Claire apart, but it would have been the best. She was sure Emma's parents would have fought to keep her, and she was sure she would have won. At least, a separation that way would have meant Emma got to see her parents wanting her instead of getting on a plane and leaving her behind without a second thought. It was best for Emma she stay with parents who would care for her, but it was also the worst thing to happen to her.

Mrs. Moran handed Emma a plate with her pizza slices on it, "You know we're always here if you need to talk. Any time, sweetheart."

"I know," Emma nodded her head. She took the plate, "I'm doing that email thing. It's helping. I'm going to eat this upstairs, now. Gia and I have a French assignment."

"Study hard," Mrs. Moran said. She looked to her husband once Emma was gone, "Joe…"

"It's an adjustment period for her. I'm not surprised she didn't want to read the postcard. I didn't either."

"But you did."

"I peeked. I didn't get anything important. Besides, I'm more concerned about what Jeff has to say. I doubt he's even noticed."

"Are we sure this is the right thing?"

"The right thing, just seventeen years too late," Joe said, "but hindsight is twenty-twenty. The important this is that she's getting what she needs now."

Mrs. Moran nodded her head and brought over the rest of the pizza.

Upstairs, Emma walked into Gia's room and handed her one of the pizza slices. Gia sat up in bed to eat it.

Emma sat at her desk, "So, are you hurting or not?"

"I'm not."

Yes and no questions were easiest for Emma to figure out. Whatever came out of Gia's mouth, the opposite was true."

"Aside from your shoulder, what doesn't hurt?"

"My head. And I don't feel like I'm going to throw up."

"Should you really be eating that pizza, then?" Emma asked. Gia shrugged her shoulders.

"It's not like we'll find out later."

Emma nodded her head and then looked across the bed at Gia. It seemed she was hungry, but she was looking pale and tired.

"You're going to be fine."

Gia didn't say anything in response until she finished her pizza, "My morpher's safe."

"Good… or… that's not good."

Gia shook her head, but answered, "Yeah, it is."

"We'll get it back," Emma promised her, "And we'll get that alien before you get any sicker. Just get some rest."

Gia nodded, set aside what was left of her pizza and lay down in bed. Emma took her bag and pulled out the tiger. It was the only thing left inside. Her books and her morpher were all gone. She set the tiger by Gia's head.

"Did you mean what you said to Jake? Or, the opposite of what you said to Jake?"

Emma already somewhat knew the answer to that. She and Gia had talked the night after the kiss. Jake's move had deeply confused and hurt Gia, but once Emma made her see that Jake was truly sorry, and he was better than all the other guys who got close to Gia, the yellow Ranger opened up, saying she did like him, but she wasn't ready for a relationship. Without being told, Emma could take the secret to her grave so Gia could open up on her own time, when she was ready.

The fact that she had already to Jake showed progress. Though everything she had said had been a lie, the truth was out. It was a huge step forward. One Emma was really proud of.

But it would be for nothing if the alien who hurt her didn't show up soon. Gia fell asleep before she could answer.

Emma took out her own morpher.

"Anything, Gosei? There's one bug I really want to crush."

"You will be the first to know," Gosei assured her.

"He is going to come back, right?" Emma asked. "Gosei, Gia's starting to look sick. I don't think we have much time to wait. And what am I going to tell her parents if they see her like this?"

Emma got no reply. She set the morpher down and pulled out her books.

"Might as well get some homework done."


	55. A Big Fight

Emma was pulled from her sleep by a repetitive beeping sound. As soon as she realized what she was hearing, she sat up and reached for her morpher. She was disappointed the moment she realized it wasn't her morpher beeping, but the alarm clock. She had fallen asleep in Gia's room, at her desk, fearful of leaving her alone for the night in her condition. She got up, shut off the alarm, and then sat next to the still sleeping Gia in bed. As usual, during the night Gia had pulled the blankets high over her head, meaning Emma had to pull them down. When she did, she saw Gia was coated in sweat. The blanket, the sheets, and her pillow were soaked.

Gia let out a cough as the morning light woke her up, "I think I'm feeling better."

"I'll say," Emma sighed. She rolled Gia over and pulled down her shirt slightly to get a look at her shoulder. The bump where the alien had bit her was now swollen and red, and the teeth marks were even more pronounced.

"Has the monster turned up?" Gia asked. Emma shook her head.

"Not unless I missed it. I can stay home from school with you, if you need someone…"

"I do."

"Another lie? I don't mind, Gia."

"I need you to stay. I want your grades to take a hit. You can afford to miss a few more days of class."

Emma groaned and massaged her head, "It's too early in the morning to speak in lies. Alright, I'll go to school and I'll talk to the boys. If this alien doesn't come back by lunch, we draw him out."

"Take your time. I'm feeling great."

"I'll be in the shower. If your parents ask, just lie to them. They won't believe you, but it'll be the fever talking," Emma placed her hand on Gia's forehead, "You're really burning up, Gia."

Gia nodded her head and closed her eyes to sleep again. Emma gave her arm a gentle squeeze and then got up. As she walked to the shower, she crossed paths with Mrs. Moran.

"Gia's not feeling well."

Mrs. Moran nodded her head and changed course to her daughter's bedroom. She didn't like what she saw when she walked in. Gia was rarely sick, but when she caught a bug, it was generally bad. Mrs. Moran didn't bother to touch her forehead or get out the thermometer. Instead, she picked up the phone and called her work to let them know she was taking a personal day. When she was done, she sat down on the bed and gently stroked her daughter's cheek.

As far as she was concerned, it was just the flu, but in about a month's time she had learned the truth of her daughter's relationship with her former boyfriend Cliff, she had learned the neighbour's boy and his best friend had taken advantage of her one night at a party, and both of those issues left Gia feeling very fragile. It was a lot for one girl to handle. Being sick was just the world's way of kicking her when she was already down.

Gia stirred slightly at her mother's touch. She opened her eyes and gave her a smile.

"I'm fine, mom."

"I'm staying home with you today. Can you stomach breakfast?"

"Yeah," Gia answered and then groaned when her mother got up. There was no way to explain to her what she meant when she talked. Her mother wasn't to know she was a Ranger and would occasional fall victim to monster's spells. And even if she could know, there was no way Gia could tell her the truth. She was forced to lie about everything.

Mrs. Moran walked down the stairs to the empty kitchen. Her husband left for work in the very early hours of the morning so she had the downstairs to herself while Gia stayed in bed and Emma got ready for school. As she started to make the girls breakfast, she heard someone knocking at the door. She walked over to answer it.

"Hi, Mrs. Moran," it was Jake. He decided to introduce himself just in case Mrs. Moran couldn't remember his name. Then he tried to peek over her shoulder, "Are Emma and Gia still home?"

"Emma's just getting ready for school," Mrs. Moran invited Jake inside. "Are you walking to school together?"

"Might as well, now that I'm here," Jake nodded his head. "I came by to check up on Gia, though. She… uh, wasn't feeling well last night and we kind of got into a fight."

"She's no better this morning, I'm afraid," Mrs. Moran shook her head. "Are you here to apologize? Can it wait?"

"Not really. There's something I need to talk to her about."

Mrs. Moran sighed and then gestured up the stairs, "Go on, but it's at your own risk. I can't promise you won't catch whatever bug caught her."

"I guarantee I will," Jake muttered under his breath as he climbed the stairs and knocked on Gia's bedroom door. There was a faint response telling him to fuck himself. Jake could only assume the poison had really set in by now. He couldn't imagine Gia talking that way to her mother or Emma.

He hadn't slept very well. On their way home from the command center, Noah had gone over Gia's speech to him, substituting the lies for what Noah assumed was the truth. It was a little complicated, as everything that came out of Gia's mouth needed to be anything but truth, but Noah was great with puzzles and problem solving. Jake was sure he had deciphered all of Gia's lies correctly.

And if it was all true – or all a lie, depending, – then Jake needed to talk with Gia. He still hated how he had kissed her, taken advantage of her vulnerability to make a move, a move he still couldn't understand why he had decided to make, but if Gia's lies were true, then she had forgiven him, she did trust him, and most importantly, she was starting to like him.

She didn't owe him anything, and if Jake got the feeling Gia was uncomfortable talking, he would leave with Emma for school and drop the matter altogether, but if she was willing, he wanted to get everything sorted. He walked into her room and saw her nestled comfortably in her bed; clutching the tiger toy he had bought for her when she had been in the hospital after Cliff's attack. As soon as she saw it was him, she tried to stuff the tiger out of sight.

"I wasn't cuddling with it. Tigger means nothing to me."

"You named it?" Jake chuckled. No lie could save her now.

"No," still, she couldn't help it. Jake grabbed her desk chair and pulled it up to the bed. He got a look at her.

"Still not feeling shitty?"

"I think I'm getting better. I could take that monster on myself."

"You tried that and failed miserably," Jake smirked. "I saved your bacon."

Gia gave a weak smile. Jake looked to his hands nervously.

"Gia… about what you said yesterday at the command center…"

"I didn't mean it."

"That means you did, right?" Jake scratched the back of his neck. Trying to have an honest conversation with a liar was complicated, even though he had told himself several times to hear the opposite of what Gia was saying. "So… everything's cool between us?"

"No. There's no way I could forgive you. You're just like all the other assholes."

"That's a good thing," Jake had to remind himself. Everything Gia said to him he took to heart. He cared deeply about what she thought of him, and he had been trying for years to impress her. "Gia, I have a question, and if you don't want to answer just… lie about it."

"That'll be hard to do."

"At the command center, you said you didn't care for me," Jake paused to give Gia a moment to think about where he was going. The spell meant she had to lie, and through her lies Jake could find the truth, especially with a yes or no question. He didn't want to push her, or take advantage of her when she couldn't defend herself.

"Shut up."

"Noah said… Noah said apathy was the opposite of a strong, passionate emotion… so when you said you don't care about me… were you trying to tell me something… different?"

"No. I don't like you, Jake. I care for you less and less."

"Do you mean that?" Jake couldn't help but smile as he translated the lie in his head. Gia nodded and smiled back.

"I'm ready, Jake, but I really don't like you at all. Maybe, if things work out in the future, we'll never have to see each other again."

"Take your time, though," Jake assured Gia, "All the time you need. If things work out for us then that's great, but there's no pressure on my end."

Gia smiled brightly for Jake, took his hand and squeezed it, and then pulled out the tiger from under the blankets. Jake could see she was tired. The poison working its way through her system was really taking a toll on her body. He told her to rest up and started to leave her room. He bumped into Emma, who had just finished up in the shower.

"What are you…?" she asked but Jake told her to be quiet. He then pointed to Gia.

"I just needed to talk to her."

"Now?"

"I'm not forcing anything," he promised. Emma sighed and nodded her head to let him known she trusted him, and then gave him a look as if to add barely.

"Go wait downstairs. We'll walk to school together. I'll be down in a minute."

Jake nodded and started down the stairs with a skip in his step. When he reached the bottom step, he saw Mrs. Moran was about to make her way upstairs with breakfast.

"Is that for Gia?"

Mrs. Moran nodded, "She said she was hungry."

"She said that?"

"Yes."

Jake knew Gia could only lie, but he assumed Mrs. Moran didn't know that.

"Gia's asleep."

"I guess I can save this for later," Mrs. Moran sighed. She started back to the kitchen, but stopped halfway and turned to Jake, "Did you say what you needed to say."

"We're all good. I apologized, I'm forgiven."

Emma came down the stairs with her school bag and the rest of her things, ready to go. Jake took that as his cue to leave and walked out the door.


	56. Fine And Dandy

Noah sat in the computer lab, enjoying a lunch to himself. The day had been somewhat busy because of classes, and Noah had his ears constantly listening for an alert from Gosei. The alien that had attacked the day before needed to make a comeback soon. All the Rangers were ready to face him, maybe even desperate for his return. According to Emma and Jake, his poison was getting the better of Gia. She was down and out in her bed, the lies kept coming, and if the monster didn't return quickly, that would be her end.

Just when he thought he would get some peace and quiet the girl from the day before walked in and sat down right beside him. Noah rolled his eyes, but tried not to let his annoyance show. There was no way she could know he had no interest in dating.

"I'm Ella," she said as she pulled out her own laptop, "I realized I never told you my name."

"Noah."

"I know…" Ella seemed to blush. Noah turned his head slightly to get a look. Now he could see what Troy was talking about. Ella seemed very into him, and judging from her body language, she was trying to flirt. Unfortunately for her, Noah still had no interest in dating.

"I'm trying to work," Noah told her and gestured to the computer. For now, he had a page of the Hub set up on his screen, but behind that he was trying to work on something that would help Gia feel better. Antidotes and potions to break spells weren't his forte, but they were science and he did love a good challenge.

"My sister knows this great restaurant…"

"I don't really… ow," Noah reached to his neck after feeling a sharp pain, almost like something had bitten him. He looked around the room, but it was only him and Ella. Suddenly, all his muscles seemed to relax and Noah couldn't stop himself from slipping down his chair. Ella grabbed him before he could fall to the floor and held him up.

"Noah, are you okay?" she asked. Noah was dizzy, and for a moment he couldn't move. He started to feel sick – very sick. Ella asked him again, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he could feel his own body again, and had enough strength to sit up on his own. "Just a dizzy spell."

"Do you need some water? Or some fresh air? Here, let me help you up…"

"No, I'm fine," Noah told her, "But, I'd love to go to that restaurant with you."

"Really?" Ella seemed surprised and very happy. Noah put his hand over his mouth. He didn't want to out with her. He didn't want to try out the restaurant her sister had suggested. He wanted to stay at home and finish up his homework, maybe kick a little monster ass so the city was once again safe, but ultimately, his true answer to the date was no.

"Yeah, really, it should be a lot of fun. I've always been really into you," he couldn't stop the lies and his words couldn't be further from the truth.

"Great! You can pick me up at seven," Ella smiled and got up from her chair, "I'll send you my address through the Hub tonight. It should be great!"

There was a bounce in her step as she walked off; obviously very happy Noah had agreed to go out with her on a date. Noah let out a groan and leaned back in his seat. The last thing he wanted to do was go on a date, especially now that he was feeling so sick.

"How did this happen to me?" he asked himself. He had never seen the alien, and he had never reappeared after Jake scared him off. Surely Gosei would have told him if he had, and Noah was certain he would have seen a giant Insectoid walking around, and he would have felt the bite of the Insectoid, assuming something so big would have a very painful bite. He rubbed his neck and felt a swollen bump.

"I shouldn't be looking for Jake," he said and then groaned again. He couldn't even be honest with himself. He packed up laptop and hurried down the halls to find Jake. He found his best friend, and Emma, and Troy, and Jordan, sitting in the cafeteria. They were going over their strategy to try and draw the monster out, was hard given they had no idea where the aliens came from. They turned up on Earth and either disappeared without a trace or they were destroyed.

"Guys, I'm feeling perfectly fine!" he cried as he rushed over to the table and took a seat. His friend turned to him strangely before brushing it off.

"That's great, Noah," Troy said.

Emma looked to him, "Have you figured out a cure? This bug seems to know what it's doing. It would be great if Gia could lend a hand."

"And a lot less for us to worry about if she was feeling better," Jake added, to which Emma nodded her head.

"I have!" Noah answered and then sighed. His friends all turned to him, curious about his findings.

"What is it?" Emma asked.

"The bug needs to bite her again," Noah said and then clamped his hand over his mouth to stop himself from saying anything more. It was all lies, but he couldn't help it.

"He… he does?" Jordan seemed a little skeptical. "Isn't that a little… odd?"

"He'll suck the venom out. Gia will be fine," Noah assured them but it was a lie.

"Are you sure?" Troy asked. Noah shook his head.

"Yes. Completely sure. You have to trust me. I'm not lying to any of you."

"Wait… hold on," Jake looked strangely to Noah and tilted his head slightly, "You're _not_ lying?"

"No, I'm not."

Troy discreetly pulled out his morpher as Jake continued to question Noah. There was something off about the blue Ranger.

"Gosei, that bug…"

"There's still no sign of him on Earth," Gosei announced, "I will let you all know as soon as Tensou and I notice something suspicious."

"Like that?" Jordan asked and pointed to the table behind where the group was sitting. Every student sitting and eating their lunch had passed out in their plates, and were completely motionless. Troy got up and tapped one of them on the shoulder. The boy stirred, sat up again, and held his head in his hand.

"I feel great."

"Gia did that," Jake said to the others around the table as Troy continued to check up on some of the other students. "I got to her just in time to see that freak drop her. She couldn't move for a bit, then got up and said she was feeling fine."

"That turned out to be a lie," Emma muttered. "But how did that bug get all these kids? Gosei said he hadn't turned up since Gia."

"You're not going to want to look in the hallway," Noah pointed out. Jake turned to his best friend, and finding his behaviour odd and familiar, decided not to trust his word. He got up and walked to the doors that led out to the hallway. Most of the students were passed out on the floor, with this friends looking over them worriedly.

"Do you think it's contagious?" Jordan asked. "Maybe the bug is actually spreading and infection or something. Are we all going to get sick?"

"The only cure would be to defeat that monster," Troy pointed out as he rejoined his friends, "but if he never comes back…"

"We have to find him," Emma said and Jake nodded his head.

"No," Noah spoke up, "The best thing to do is sit and wait."

"Are you crazy?" Emma cried. Jake shook his head to defend his best friend.

"He's sick," he pointed to a spot on Noah's neck that had recently started to swell. There were no bite marks like on Gia's, but the bump did resemble a bug bite. "Noah's been lying to us."

"So you've seen the bug, then?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah."

"Lie," Jake announced.

Troy clenched his fists, "We've got to find this monster and fast. Jordan, you stay here. Keep an eye on Noah and the school. Jake, Emma, we've got to go."

"What if the monster gets us too?" Jake asked, "He got Noah without him knowing, and if Gia's anything to go in a matter of hours we'll have two very sick Rangers. If we're caught, we're down and out as well."

"Don't get bit."

"Really?" Emma sighed, "That's your best advice?"

"We have no idea what we're up against. All we know is that whoever he is, he's smart and he's taken two of us out already," Troy lead what was left of his team around the side of the school, where no one could see them, "If we morph, it might offer some protection against his bite."

"Better than nothing," Jake sighed.


	57. A Miraculous Recovery

Mrs. Moran paced nervously in her living room. Upstairs, Gia wasn't getting any better. Mrs. Moran wasn't a doctor, but she was sure that whatever was making her sick was only getting worse and it was doing so quickly.

She left her daughter's bedside for a moment, hoping she could find something to ease Gia's symptoms. As she did that, she called her husband, explaining she needed him to stop by the pharmacy to pick up some medicine on his way home. When he asked why, she told him Gia was sick. She explained what she knew about Gia's symptoms and then Mr. Moran told her to check the news.

Hundreds of people had been in the emergency room, complaining they were feeling well and insisting they had no aches or pains or ill feelings, but when asked to leave, they couldn't be moved. They wouldn't leave, but demanded that they wanted no doctor to check them out.

If Mrs. Moran wasn't concerned before, she certainly was now. While it was quite obvious Gia was extremely sick, she continued to insist she felt fine. She called her husband, begging him to come home so he could have a look. It was a long shot, but she thought maybe he would know what was going on with Gia.

She also tried to call the school and Emma's cell phone. The school told her that more than half of their students had been going to the nurse, complaining they felt fine, but Emma wasn't one of them. Mrs. Moran wanted Emma to come home so she could keep her eye on her, but Emma wouldn't answer her phone, and the school promised to look for her, but it was the lunch hour, and it was possible she wasn't even on campus.

Mr. Moran came into the house. Leaving work had been no problem for him, as his boss, and most of his coworkers had collapsed in their office, only to get up and insist they were okay when it was clear they weren't. Mr. Moran raced back home. When he got inside the house, his wife pointed upstairs while she continued to try to reach Emma.

"There's something really strange going on in this city," she muttered to herself.

-Megaforce-

"Emma, you're ringing again," Jake sighed as he heard her cell phone ringing from her bag. The pink Ranger groaned. She wished she had had time to stuff her bag in her locker before she left, but she had to take it with her, as well as her books and her cell phone. She couldn't just drop her bag in or around the school without worrying her teachers and the Morans that something had happened to her. Everyone knew she never went around without her bag.

It was the same with Jake and Troy. Gosei had handed them morphers, but apparently hadn't thought of the size as an issue. They were too big to fit discreetly into pockets and they looked nothing like a known-object and so would raise a lot of eyebrows if seen. The only choice the Rangers had if they wanted to keep their morphers close was to stuff it in their bags, and not go anywhere without taking their bags with them. They were the only kids in school to bring their bags to every class and to lunch.

Emma checked her phone and sighed, "It's Mrs. Moran. Should I answer?"

"Go for it. We'll keep lookout," Troy nodded. Emma answered the call and received an earful from her best friend's mother. She winced behind her helmet.

"Sorry. I didn't hear my phone ring. It won't happen again."

"There's something going around the city," Mrs. Moran said, "It's making people sick. I want you to come home."

"I'm feeling fine, I swear. I don't think I'm sick."

"I'm not taking any chances. Where are you? I'll come pick you up?"

Emma didn't know what to do so she hung up suddenly. Jake was smirking behind his helmet, and it was made obvious by his body language. Emma shrugged her shoulders.

"Dropped call."

"She'll expect you to call her back," Troy pointed out, "Or she'll call back."

Emma shook her head and took a water bottle from her bag. She poured the water on the phone.

"Dropped call into a puddle. It had to be done," Emma looked at the broken phone in her hand and sighed, "Being a Ranger sucks."

"Let's find that bug, and fast," Troy said. Jake grabbed his arm as he started to walk and gestured around the city.

"He might not even be around, dude. What if Jordan's right and he started spreading an infection. Gia's sick, she was near Noah and now he's sick. What if his parents went to work sick and they just spread it around the city, while Noah spread it around the school. We could be on a wild goose chase."

"You and Emma spent a lot more time around Gia than Noah did, and you're not sick," Troy pointed out. "It's got to be the monster. He's doing this."

"You heard Gosei, there's no sign of the monster anywhere. He hadn't appeared since he attacked Gia," Jake shook his head. "I think it would be obvious if there was an eight foot bug going around biting people. Noah would have said something if he saw the bug."

"Or wouldn't have," Emma said and let out a heavy sigh, "Troy, maybe Jake's right. There's no monster around. We're out here, but Gia's at home and really sick, and we all know the same is going to happen to Noah."

"Go home if you want to," Troy said, "but I'm not giving up. This bug has to be around here somewhere. I don't believe any infection can spread to this many people so quickly if he only bit Gia. And I refuse to believe that, even if that is true, the city would get sick long before we ever do."

Jake's cell phone suddenly started to ring. When he checked it, he saw it was a call from his mother.

"She's probably asking me to come home too," Jake said. He gave Troy a pat on the shoulder, "Sorry, but… I should be with them and Noah. As soon as the bug shows his ugly face, I'll be ready to fight, but I can't risk not being there for my friend."

"I'll go home to Gia," Emma nodded her head; "I'll keep you updated on what's happening with her so you know what to expect with Noah. Troy, if you find anything, let me know."

Emma and Jake both powered down and took off down the street, hoping they could make it home to their family and friends quickly. Troy watched them go with a sigh and then turned around.

The city was big, and Gosei hadn't alerted him about the bug just yet, but Troy couldn't let this go. The alien had to be somewhere. There was no way all these people were infecting themselves.

"Gosei…"

"Noting yet, Troy. Tensou and I are doing our best, but there's still no sign of any Warstar activity."

Troy looked down the street and continued to walk. Maybe on his own he wold draw the bug out, and it would be willing to fight. It had attacked Gia when she was alone, and disappeared when Jake arrived for back-up. Maybe it was waiting for a one on one challenge.

-Megaforce-

Emma got home and was pulled into Mrs. Moran's arm. She was hugged, and at the same time scolded for hanging up in the middle of the call, not answering her phone right away, and almost giving Mrs. Moran a heart attack.

"How are you feeling?" Mrs. Moran placed her hand on Emma's forehead. She knew one symptom of the illness was a high fever. Emma felt normal. "Stay inside, sweetheart. This disease is spreading like wildfire."

"I was with Gia all night," Emma shook her head, "If I'm not sick by now, I should be fine."

Emma wasn't sure she was speaking the truth. Jake and Jordan's theory meant that it was possible the monster's spell was contagious. However, she wasn't sick yet. Either she had somehow built up immunity, or the poison had a specific target of people it could infect. Emma felt safe enough no matter how it spread.

"How is Gia?"

Mrs. Moran shook her head, "Not well, though she'll say otherwise."

"I'll go see her…"

"No. There's no way I'm letting you get sick. Joe and I will keep an eye on her. You stay downstairs."

"But…"

"Emma, this is a nasty virus. No one's sure what it can do, but we're all positive it's dangerous. Go get washed up, make sure you're thorough, and then stay down here. One sick daughter is more than enough."

Emma sighed. Mrs. Moran was not to be argued with. She walked to the bathroom to clean up while Mrs. Moran walked upstairs and into Gia's room. Her husband was in bed with their daughter, holding her gently in his arms. Gia's face was twisted in pain and she was whimpering pathetically. Sweat was pouring down her body, and she was hot to the touch.

"I'm feeling great," she sobbed, "You don't need to worry. I'm okay."

"Sweetie, please," her mother sat with her on the bed, "You don't need to be brave. Just tell us what you need."

"I need everyone to leave," Gia curled up in her father's arms and whimpered again in pain, "Leave me alone!"

"Nothing seems to be helping her," Mr. Moran said to his wife. He looked up at her sadly. "We should call a doctor."

"I've tried," Mrs. Moran said, "They're all busy with the other cases, and the more I try to call, the less they believe me. Everyone's lying about how they feel. Gia, sweetheart, we're your parents. You can tell us anything…"

"There's nothing to tell. Just get out. I want to be alone."

"Gia…"

"Get out!" Gia screamed. Her mother backed away. Her father lay her down in her bed. Respecting her wishes, they left her to rest in her room by herself.

Downstairs, Emma saw Mr. and Mrs. Moran headed into the kitchen and followed them.

"Gia…"

"Wants to be alone," Mrs. Moran said. "We'll check up on her in an hour. I'll try to call the hospital and see if they can do anything."

"Emergency rooms are full," Mr. Moran said, "Everyone's going in, complaining they're feeling well. No one needs a doctor, but they won't leave the hospital alone."

Emma sighed loudly, "I'll go do my homework."

"Stay out of Gia's room," Mrs. Moran warned her. "We don't want you getting sick."

Emma nodded and walked to the den. When she was sure Gia's parents were distracted with trying to call for some help for Gia, Emma snuck up the stairs and into Gia's room.

"Gia…?"

"Get out."

"I promise, I won't leave," Emma sat down on the bed. "How are you feeling… or not feeling?"

"I'm getting… getting better. This… isn't going to… to kill me."

"Don't say that," Emma shook her head. "That bug will come back, and when he does he'll get his ass kicked."

"No one else is sick. Mom and dad won't say anything about how far it's spreading around the city."

"It has," Emma said, "Noah's sick too. That's why I need you to tell me what doesn't hurt so we can warn Jake."

"My head, stomach, and every muscle in my body."

"They hurt?"

"No."

Emma nodded her head and took out her morpher, "Jake… it's really bad. Make sure Noah's really comfortable."

"Noah won't go home," Jake replied. "Jordan and I are keeping an eye on him at school. He insists on not working on a cure. We've got to try anything at this point, right?"

"A cure?" Gia asked, then took the morpher from Emma's hand, "As soon as you think he's got something, don't bring it here."

"Gia? Are you sure?"

"Not at all. Please, Jake, I'd rather die slowly than take any chances. At least it'll give me more time. I was last to be bitten by that alien. We all know I'll be last to go anyways."

"Yeah, but Gia, Noah could get the first batch wrong…"

"I won't risk it!" Gia cried before coughing. She dropped the morpher and fell back into her pillow. Emma picked up the morpher and sighed.

"Well, you heard her. Tell Noah to find something quick."

There was a cough from the other end before Emma heard Noah's voice, "I've already got a cure. I'll stop working so I can bring it over now."

"If only that were true," Emma looked down at Gia as she tucked her morpher back in her bag. "You'll be fine, Gia. We're Power Rangers. We always win."

"I believe you."


	58. A Killer Poison

Noah's project had moved from his laptop into the science lab. By now, most students had been taken out of school and either sent home or to the hospital because they looked very ill. Noah would have been one of them, but Jake and Jordan did their very best to keep out of sight of the teachers and staff in the school.

This was life-saving work for Noah. Not only was his life on the line, but the entire city seemed to be affected and there was still no sign of the monster. By now, Noah was sure the Warstar wanted to wait long enough to ensure there were some deaths, especially since they knew they had gotten at least one Ranger. The monster had Gia's morpher, and he had surely brought it back as a prize to show off.

Noah's sickness made it hard to work, but it also gave him an indispensable tool for his research. He could use his own blood and his own body to figure out what was in the poison, how it was making him sick, and how to counter the effects. It wasn't likely he would find a long-term cure, but anything that meant him and Gia would stop suffering long enough to help the team battle and defeat the monster was good enough.

In the corner of the room, by the door and keeping watch, Jake and Jordan watched on, impressed, as Noah used everything the lab could offer him to come up with what Jake could only describe as a magic potion. One he hoped would work. Gia had already made it clear she was willing to risk her life testing the first potion. Jake couldn't imagine losing her, especially now that he knew he was rubbing off on her. She liked him in return, and though it would be time before she could give herself to another man, even in the smallest ways, Jake was excited for the progress.

More than that, now that the monster had somehow gotten his best friend sick, the two people Jake cared about the most in the world were in danger. Losing Gia would be heartbreaking. Losing Noah, his best friend since they were boys, was unthinkable. There had never been a moment in Jake's life, for as long as he could remember, that hadn't been shared in some way with Noah.

"He's amazing," Jordan whispered and Jake nodded his head.

"Science is the one field where nothing can stop Noah. If anyone can figure out how to stop this sickness, it's going to be him."

Noah inspected the contents of the beaker and let out a sigh. He turned around, holding up the beaker to show the boys.

"There's no way this could work," he said before he put the beaker to his lips. Just as he was about to take a sip, Jake ripped it from him hands.

"We promised we would try it on Gia first. What if this isn't it? What if this kills you?"

"What I want most is to know that the antidote I created is the thing that killed one of my best friends," Noah looked up at Jake pleadingly, "I don't want to do this. I have to let her test it. I'd love to be the one to kill her."

Jake knew it was all a lie, but the translation was still tough for him to figure out in his head. Fortunately, Jordan was a fast thinker. He put his hand on Noah's shoulder.

"It's really brave what you're trying to do, Noah, but you're likely the only guy on this planet who can find a cure for whatever this lying disease is. Losing Gia because of a faulty antidote would suck, but if we lose you, we'll probably lose Gia and so many more people."

Noah looked down at the contents of the beaker and sighed. He then handed the beaker to Jordan.

"You're wrong."

"Thanks," Jordan poured the antidote into his bottle and then looked at the two other boys, "I'll get this to Gia A.S.A.P, and I'll call with the results as soon as I get them."

"Be careful," Jake warned him. Jordan slipped the bottle into his bag after making sure the top was sealed properly so none of it would leak out. "If you get sick too, we won't know in time."

Jordan nodded, promised he would be as safe as possible and then ran off. When he was gone, Jake noticed Noah starting to sway. He caught his friend as he tumbled over. Jake held Noah in his arms and lowered him to the ground.

"Stay with me, dude. Whether this works or not, you're going to need to get back to work soon."

"I'm fine, Jake."

"I know, just keep fighting it. You're really amazing. If we can pull this off, it's going to be thanks to you."

-Megaforce-

The search was frustrating for Troy but he refused to give up, even though everywhere he searched, people were dropping like flies. Whenever the red Ranger asked them how they were doing, they always gave him the same answer. All of them claimed to be feeling well.

He could see it in their eyes that their words were lies. He saw the panic and the fear. The end of the day was nearing, and more and more people were getting sick, and those who had been caught by the bug earlier in the day were looking worse and worse. Now, the hospital was full of patients who claimed not to be sick, but were showing obvious signs of illness, and doctors no longer refused to treat the patients who said they were fine.

"Come out, you coward!" Troy called out into the streets, "You're never going to win like this! Come out and fight!"

There was no sign of him but one more person on the street suddenly collapsed. Troy raced over and pulled him away from the road before a driver ran him over.

"I'm fine. I'm fine," the man insisted. Troy knew it was a lie.

"The Rangers are doing all they can," he promised. Then he had a quick look around and groaned. The monster still wouldn't show his face.

-Megaforce-

Jordan ran as fast as his legs could carry him to Gia's house, and he didn't bother to knock. He ran right into the house and up the flight of stairs. Gia's parents saw him from the kitchen and followed him, ready to kick him out of their house for barging in.

Jordan closed Gia's bedroom door behind him and then grabbed a chair and put it under the doorknob. Gia's parents tried to open the door but they couldn't. Cursing and threats started, but Jordan ignored them as he reached into his bag.

Emma looked over to him. He pulled out his bottle and tossed it over to her.

"Noah swears it won't work," he said, "So it's worth a shot."

"Help me sit her up," Emma said. Gia had passed out about an hour ago, and knowing the hospital would be no good for her, Emma let her be. She and Jordan propped her up. For Jordan, it was the first time seeing her so sick. She was pale, she was drenched in sweat from a fever, but her skin was clammy when he touched her. It was obvious she didn't have much time left. Jordan was glad he took a shortcut.

Emma took the top off the water bottle, did her best to pull Gia from her sleep, and put the bottle to Gia's lips when she was conscious enough not to choke on the very thing that was trying to save her life. Before she could pour it into Gia's mouth, she stopped. Her eyes watered. She pulled the bottle away and shook her head.

"Emma, come on. She's dying anyways."

Emma handed the bottle back to Jordan, "I… I can't do it."

Jordan took in a deep breath, griped the bottle tightly and poured the contents into Gia's mouth. He didn't use all of it. He figured if it worked, he could keep some for Noah. There was surely more than enough in the bottle for two uses.

Suddenly, there was a beeping sound. Emma's eyed widened in a panic and she reached for her morpher.

"Gosei?"

"Troy," the red Ranger replied on the other end, "Emma, Jake, I need you to come now. The bug's been among us all along."

"What?"

"He's literally just a bug. About the size of a fly. He's in the city. I've got my eye on him, but I need help!"

"Go," Jordan told Emma, "I'll keep an eye on her."

"But her parents?"

"They'll be worried no matter what. I'll keep them out, and I'll make sure, whatever happens to Gia, she's comfortable."

Emma nodded her head then spoke into her morpher, "I'm coming Troy."

"Ditto," Jake answered. "Don't let that bug out of your sight before I get there. I want to show him what happens when he messes with our friends."

Emma clutched her morpher tightly as she climbed out the window. Jordan wished her luck as she left and then turned to the door. Gia's parents were still trying to break in.

"Sorry, Gia, you're stuck with me," he couldn't let her parents know what was happening without getting in trouble, and without having to answer a lot of unanswerable questions. After all, how was he to explain that he gave their daughter an untested and possibly lethal antidote? So he took Gia in his arms and carried her to the closet. He hid inside, curled up in a corner and behind a stack of clothes. Gia's room was tidy, but her closet was not. He closed the door just as her father broke down the door to her room.

Mr. Moran stormed into the room and had a look around, but there was no one there. Mrs. Moran rushed in behind him and went straight for the bed. She pulled the blankets down to check on her daughter, but she was gone. Mr. Moran saw this too, and then noticed the open window. His heart sank.

"Who would do this?" he asked. He walked to the window to see if there were any signs of the man who had stormed into his home uninvited and seemed to take his daughter. Mrs. Moran dropped to her knees and sobbed loudly. Her husband helped her up and walked her out of the room.

"It's okay," he tried to reassure her, "It's okay, we'll find her."

In the closet, Jordan waited for Gia's parents to be gone before he opened the closet door. Now that they thought Gia was gone, Jordan had to make her disappear. He wrapped her in a blanket, and carried her to the window. He couldn't go far, but he needed to stay somewhere her parents wouldn't search for her. He climbed out the window and walked gingerly on the roof until he reached Emma's bedroom window. He could see inside her room and saw her bedroom door was closed.

Suddenly, Mr. Moran opened the door. Jordan had to duck quickly to avoid being seen.

"Emma?" Mr. Moran called, and then the door closed again. Jordan climbed into the room and lay Gia on the bed.

"C'mon, Gia," he whispered, "Do something."


	59. Death

Jake jumped and tried to catch the small bug in his gloves, only to miss, land on his feet, and then have to run away as the alien came after him, threatening to bite. He couldn't risk getting sick. The team was already down to half their members. Anymore losses and the Rangers didn't stand a chance.

"He-he, you can't catch me!" the tiny Insectoid cried out teasingly as he flew circles around the Rangers. "I'll have this entire city on its knees! I've already got one Ranger down!"

Emma clenched her fists then grabbed her blaster and shot at the little bug. Gia's fate was still very much uncertain. Emma had to leave before she could find out in the antidote had any effect, and whether the risk had paid off.

Her blast missed, and nearly took Troy's head off.

"Maybe you need a bigger target!" the Insectoid teased and grew to his normal size in front of Emma so he could slash her down. He laughed as she hit the ground, then felt something cut into his back. He groaned painfully and shrunk back to a tiny size. "Hey, that's not nice!"

Jake held out his Snake Axe and swung wildly to take out the little bug while Troy helped Emma up to her feet.

"He's too fast when he's big, and too hard to hit when he's small," Troy said and watched Jake pathetically wield his axe to chop the tiny fly in two. "If you take your eyes off him for a moment, we lose him. He's tough."

Emma nodded her head. This monster was one of the hardest they had faced yet because they knew their teammates wouldn't come out to join them. Gia and Noah weren't just resting after a hard fight, they were sick and dying. Unless the monster was defeated, there was nothing they could do to help.

"Got any bug tips?" Troy turned to Emma. "Something to attract them or even kill them?"

"I don't usually kill bugs," Emma said, "If I do anything to them, I trap them just to observe them and take pictures. Then I let them go."

"Ever catch anything this small and this fast?"

"AH!" Jake cried suddenly and he dropped to his knees. He clutched his shoulder before falling over and lying still in the street.

"Jake!" Emma rushed over to tend to him as Troy kept the alien distracted. That made three down and only two to go.

"You fight like a coward!" Troy was hoping to piss off the alien so he would grow. It would be easier to squish a tiny bug, but fighting one was best done when they were closer to human size, or even bigger.

"I fight like a winner!" the little bug said and lunged for Troy, who quickly jumped out of the bug's path while keeping an eye on him so as not to lose him like Jake had.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

"We found a cure to your poison!"

"No you haven't."

"All your victims are going to be healed. All this will have been for nothing. Sting me, I challenge you."

"Troy!" Emma shook her head when she heard what he was telling the bug. They did have an antidote, but they weren't sure it was going to work. If Troy infected himself, Emma would be the only one left standing.

"You really want me to sting you?" the tiny Insectoid stopped flying around to look straight at the red Ranger.

"It's like I said, we found a cure. Your little bites are harmless now. If you want to defeat the Rangers, you'll have to do it the old fashion way."

The little bug seemed furious, but Troy's plan worked. The Insectoid grew to regular size and lunged at Troy to take him out.

"Dragon sword!" Troy cried and the battle was on.

"I need you, Emma," Jake said to her as he sat up on his own. He knew he would get sick. He knew there was no point in him fighting. He would only put himself and his friends at risk, "Don't help Troy. Please, Emma."

Emma nodded her head and drew her Phoenix Shot. She aimed it at the Insectoid and when she was sure she had a lock on him, she fired. The monster was hit by her blast and sent flying through the air.

"That's got to hurt," Jake said to her. Emma smiled behind her helmet.

"I did feel really good," she turned to Troy, "C'mon, let's kick his ass before he makes anyone else sick. This is one bug I'd be happy to watch die."

-Megaforce-

At school, in the science lab, Noah crawled back to the table and pulled himself up. He hadn't heard from Jordan yet and knew that Jake, Troy, and Emma had found the monster that made him sick, but he couldn't sit around and wait for something to happen. He had one cure, but wasn't sure it would work. In case the monster escaped, or poisoned any more of his friends, he needed to keep working. He needed to come up with something that would stop the poison from spreading.

He had everything he needed laid out on the table. Harwood County High was a well-funded school. The science courses were always filled with different chemicals, ingredients, and everything the students needed to create interesting solutions (and big messes). If a cure was possible, Noah would be able to make it out of what was in front of him on the table.

But the pain coursing through his body made it difficult. He could barely stand up, even when he used the table for support. When he reached for a new beaker he fell over and writhed in pain on the ground. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he realized he was now helplessly waiting for something to happen. Good or bad, all he wanted was for his misery to end.

-Megaforce-

Troy heard Emma's cry and watched her fall from the alien's arms after he bit her. That was four Rangers down, and it was only him left. Troy was really beginning to feel panic bubbling inside of him. He had told the Insectoid there was a cure, but he had been lying. He had no idea how he would help his friends unless he defeated the monster who seemed unstoppable.

He was too quick to touch, his skin was thick, and he was much stronger than Troy. The odds were not in his favour.

"I don't have it!" Emma called for him from the ground as she struggled to pick herself up. Then she held out her hand, showing Troy a morpher. He noticed hers was still clipped to her belt, which meant she had a second in her hand.

"Gia's," Troy muttered and then ducked quickly to avoid the alien's attack.

"One more left. How does it feel, red Ranger, to know you're the only thing standing in the way of humanity's bitter defeat, and there's nothing you can do."

"I'm never giving up!" Troy cried as he lunged into another battle. This was it. It was all or nothing.

Emma watched from the ground as the initial dizziness and pain wore off. It was only a matter of time before she was too sick to fight, but she couldn't leave Troy as the only man standing. She tried to push herself to her feet, but felt a hand on her shoulder keep her down.

"Morpher please," the voice asked her and Emma looked up to see Gia had come.

"You… you're okay?"

"I feel so sick," Gia shook her head, "but it's time to stop that monster once and for all. Morpher please, before he knows I'm here."

Emma put the morpher in Gia's hand and watched her best friend morph and rush into battle. With her Tiger Claw, she slashed into the alien's back, taking him by surprise and inflicting painful wounds Emma could see even from a distance.

"What?" the Insectoid cried out when he saw it was the yellow Ranger attacking him, "You should be dead by now!"

Gia didn't say anything as she swung the final blow with her Tiger Claw. She sliced the alien in half and pulled Troy away quickly from the explosion. When she turned around, the alien was gone.


	60. A Safe Return

Noah could finally breathe again as the Megazord battle came to an end and he leaned forward in the cockpit. He was tired, and there was still a sickly feeling running through his body, but he was no longer forced to lie and he was feeling better now that the monster was destroyed. It was only a matter of time before he was back up to form. When the monster had been destroyed in its first form, Noah had been strong enough to ask Gosei to teleport him to the battle, and his Ranger suit gave him the strength he needed to keep up and help his team.

Gia was already asleep at the wheel. Once the battle ended, she wasted no time passing out.

Jake leaned back in his seat and let out a relieved sigh. He looked over to Noah and to Gia, "Alright; that was the scariest twenty-four hours of my life."

"You were scared?" Noah glanced over at his best friend, "You were sick for what, twenty minutes?"

"Hey, dude, I was worried about you," Jake shrugged his shoulders. "Don't you dare die on me. Who else can help me with my homework?"

"Ha-ha," Noah rolled his eyes, "If you guys don't mind, I'm going home and I'm going to bed. Being sick really makes you tired."

"I'll walk with you," Jake said, "You know, make sure no more bugs come after you."

"Troy, mind helping me with Gia?" Emma asked. Troy nodded his head. He got out of his seat and gently lifted Gia.

-Megaforce-

"Both girls are gone," Mr. Moran told the police as they sat in his living room with him and his wife. Mr. Moran handed the officers a picture of Gia and Emma. "This is them."

"Someone ran into your house…?"

"Gia's been in a lot of trouble recently," Mrs. Moran added, "I wouldn't be surprised if there was something else going on we didn't know about."

"We try to keep up," Mr. Moran explained, "But there's only so far you can dig into your teenager's life. We didn't get a look, but it was a young man, he ran into the house, straight up the stairs and into Gia's bedroom."

"And your other daughter, Emma. Where was she at the time?"

"We believed she was in our den working on her homework," Mrs. Moran said, "But I wouldn't be surprised if she snuck upstairs. Gia was very sick, and the girls are inseparable."

"I broke the door down, but the room was empty," Mr. Moran continued with his story. "This guy and both the girls were gone."

"Gia's very sick," Mrs. Moran stated once more. "Please, you need to find them…"

"Mom?" the door to the house opened. Mrs. Moran recognized her daughter's voice instantly, jumped up from the couch and darted to the hallway. She snatched Gia from Troy's arms and hugged her tightly.

Mr. Moran came over and he took Emma in his arms. He held her close and looked to the police.

"They're home. Thank you for your time," he said before turning to Emma, "What the hell happened to you two? Where did you go?"

"Are you hurt?" Mrs. Moran looked Gia over quickly, "Sweetheart, you have to tell us if that man hurt you. We can't protect you if we don't know…"

"I'm fine, mom. He didn't hurt me."

"Did you see his face?"

Gia was tired of the lies, but there was one more she needed to tell, "No. I was sleeping when he grabbed me."

"Emma went after her," Troy explained. "She must have scared him off. I found them a couple blocks away."

"A couple blocks?" Mr. Moran asked. He gave Emma a gentle squeeze, "Do you know anything about this guy? Who he was? What he wanted?"

"He dropped Gia and ran," Emma shook her head, "I didn't see his face, and I didn't get to talk to him."

"As long as you're safe," Mrs. Moran said and brought the girls to the living room. Mr. Moran thanked the officers and Troy and closed the door behind them as they left. While Mrs. Moran went to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate, Mr. Moran joined the girls in the living room. He sat on the coffee table and looked to them.

"I love you both very much," he started. "No matter what, I will always be in your corner. No matter how much trouble you get into, you can come to me. So tell me what's going on. First there's Cliff, then Mick and Alex, Emma, you were on and off and on again with that Jordan boy. Now some stranger, someone none of us knows, runs in here and takes off with you."

"Mr. Moran…"

"You both have bruises, you come home late and with excuses, you're skipping classes. If there's something going on, you can tell me. I'm here for you."

"Nothing's going on," Gia assured her father. "The thing with Cliff, Alex, and Mick is behind us."

"And Jordan and I just got into a fight," Emma said. "That's all."

Mrs. Moran came back into the room with two mugs of hot chocolate. She gave them to the girls and then told them to head upstairs for bed. She could see they were both tired, and Gia was still sick. They needed rest. When the girls were gone, Mr. Moran looked to his wife.

"We need to do better."

"Joe…"

"Gia and Emma kept Cliff a secret from us for two years. We had no idea he ever laid a hand on her until very recently. They can keep secrets. We need to keep a close eye on them."

"We're doing our best."

"A man ran into our home and took our daughter from her bed! The girls come home every day with new bruises."

"They go riding in the woods, Joe."

"And they fall every day? Neither of them would take a tumble on those bikes."

"If they have something to tell us, they will," Mrs. Moran insisted, "For now, we do what we can. We take care of them, we show them they are loved and trusted, and they will open up when they are ready. I'll go check up on them."

Mrs. Moran left as Mr. Moran shook his head. He got up and went to his office.

"I liked it better when Gia had a babysitter," he said to herself, "At least then there was an adult keeping an eye on her at all times."


	61. Soccer Game

It was a few days after the alien's sickness plagued the city before the routine started to come back. Those affected by the bug were headed back to school and work and feeling much better.

Noah was in school and fumbling with his books in his locker. He had gotten quite ill, to the point where he couldn't stand and was in agonizing pain, but his recovery was going well and those days were behind him.

As he tried to grab all his books at once from his locker, one of them fell from his hands and was about to hit the floor, but a hand reached out and caught it just in time. He looked up and saw Gia had come over to help him. She held up his bag and kept it open so Noah could put everything inside.

"Thanks."

"I should be thanking you," Gia smiled. She had been home sick for longer than Noah, and this was her first day back as well as her first day out of bed. She hadn't seen Noah since the defeat of the Insectoid and had been waiting days to thank him for working on the cure that had saved her life. Jordan, who had been with her after she received the antidote, swore there was a moment where he could feel no pulse on her and she had stopped breathing. Given she had been the one to strike the final blow on the alien who poisoned her, she could only assume Noah's cure had kicked in just in time to spare her life. "Your antidote tasted like shit, but I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you."

"I saw a challenge and embraced it," Noah said. He put his bag on his shoulder and started to walk to class. Gia walked with him.

"Noah, I know you were sick, and I know how crippling it was. It's really amazing you managed to stay on the ball for so long with something so complicated when you were feeling so sick."

"It's like I said, I like the challenge," Noah shrugged his shoulders, "And besides, if there's something I can do to help a friend, I'm going to do everything I can. I've got a brain; I might as well use it."

"Well, if you ever want to be a doctor, I'd support you," Gia smirked. "That antidote was your first try and it worked like a charm… except the taste could use improvement."

"Next time, I'll be sure to throw in that extra step," Noah teased her. "Seriously, I'm just glad I can help. I know when it comes to being… you know, I'm not the strongest or the best…"

"Every team needs a brain. You saved everyone, Noah. Don't ever forget that."

"Thanks," Noah smiled as they walked into the classroom. Gia took her usual seat next to Emma, and Noah walked over to Jake. He saw his best friend staring at him and chuckled as he sat down.

"You're looking a little green, Jake."

"What were you two talking about?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Noah smirked.

"Were you talking about me? Dude, that would be really great if you could kind of talk me up…"

"And leave her disappointed when she actually decides she wants to take your relationship a step further?" Noah put his hand over his heart and faked a gasp, "Jake! That's just mean."

Jake glared at Noah. The blue Ranger laughed and shook his head.

"Relax. We were just talking about that battle. My antidote did save her life. And anyways, I thought you two were cool."

"We are, and I'll give her the time and space she needs, but I can't say I wouldn't want things to kind of hurry up. I am a teenager."

Jake suddenly smirked when he saw Ella walking into the classroom. The sickness around the city meant the date between Noah and Ella had been cancelled, but she had bragged about it to her friends and now it was common knowledge about the school that she and Noah were going out.

However, Noah had been under the lying spell when he agreed to date her. Jake knew that, Ella didn't, and it seemed Noah had forgotten all about it.

She sat down next to Noah and leaned in to whisper, "Hey."

Noah turned to her and jumped slightly when he noticed she was so close, "Uh… hi?"

"So, I've been trying to get in touch with you about a make-up date. How is tonight?"

Behind him, Noah could hear Jake making kissing noises. Now Noah could remember what he had said to Ella and there was no taking it back without hurting her. Still, he did not want to date. It was nothing personal against her, he just had no interest in it.

"Uh… tonight is Jake's first game with his new team," Noah said. Across the room, Gia heard and looked over before turning back to Emma to keep talking. Noah scratched the back of his neck as he looked to Ella, "I promised him I would be there to support him…"

"I don't need you, bud," Jake gave Noah a pat on the shoulder, "It's not every day a pretty girl asks you out."

Noah's eyes widened slightly as he glanced over to Jake. He whispered so only Jake would hear, "I don't want to date. You know that!"

"He'll pick you up at seven," Jake smiled to Ella.

"Great!" Ella grabbed her books and moved to her usual seat at the back of her class with her friends. Jake could hear the giggles and knew what the girls were talking about. He turned to Noah. His best friend's glare burned through him.

"What? Dude, Ella's been telling the school what you said when you were lying. She'd be crushed and humiliated if you changed your mind and said no."

"But I don't want to…"

"One night," Jake said. "Just try it. You might like it, and if you don't, just say things aren't working out and it's over. You're not the douche who went back on his word, there's just no… chemistry."

"You're having fun with this, aren't you?"

"One of us should be dating," Jake chuckled. He sat up straight as Mr. Burley walked into class.

-Megaforce-

Noah hadn't been lying when he told Ella Jake's first game with his new team was that night. After school, Jake went straight home, did a little warm up and practice on his own before he got ready and headed down to the field. He found his teammates were practicing before the game and Coach McKnight was standing on the sidelines.

"Coach," he called and Connor turned around with a smile. He picked up a bag and tossed it at Jake.

"Uniform's in there. I hope you're ready."

"I'm pumped."

"Good, because it's a big game for me," Connor gestured to the other half of the field, where the other team was warming up with some stretches, "We're playing against Reefside – my old team. I played and coached for them before moving out here. There's a little rivalry, needless to say."

"Friendly rivalry, I hope."

"Yeah," Connor chuckled. "Speaking of big games, you remember which goal is which, right? We don't need another stunt like that last one."

"I've got my head on straight," Jake nodded then held up his bag, "I'll get changed and joined the others. I promise I won't let you down."

Jake walked away from the field to find somewhere to change into his new uniform, proud to see the team's colour was black and yellow. He had been worried for a while, because he had seen the coach wearing so much red, that he would have to sport Troy's Ranger colour instead of his own. The teasing from his friends, Noah and Troy especially would be endless.

One Jake was changed he began his walk to the field, but stopped when he saw four familiar faces approaching him. He gave out a smile as Troy, Gia, Emma, and Jordan came over to wish him luck.

"You guys came?"

"I overheard Noah tell Ella about the game," Gia nodded, "We figured it was the least we could do."

"Those other guys look fierce," Troy commented as he turned his attention to the field for a moment. Jake nodded and nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

"They've got a couple of years on me," he said, "Normally the local teams don't recruit high schoolers at this level. I'm really lucky I got in, but I'm going to have to really prove myself."

"Then score on the other team's net," Gia teased him. "Do that, and you'll be fine."

"Yeah," Jake nodded. Then he looked around and chuckled, "So, I guess Noah's getting ready for his date?"

"He told me to tell you he wishes you fall in the dirt and break your neck," Troy smirked, "I guess that's his way of wishing you good luck?"

"That's how I'll take it," Jake said. He saw his team doing drills on the field and knew he had to go, "Thanks for coming guys! I'll do my best!"

"Let's go find some good seats," Troy suggested to the girls and Jordan as they walked to the bleachers where a crowd was beginning to form. Jordan took Emma's hand and held her close as they walked. Gia stuck out her tongue.

"Seriously? Here? Do I need to talk to you two about PDA?"

"Get used to it, Gia," Emma laughed, "Jordan's going to be here for a while. Besides, we're here for you and Jake."

"There is no me and Jake. We're here for Jake. I was just the one to hear about the game."

"And dragged us all down to watch it."

"I thought it was a good team thing," Gia shrugged. Jordan, Emma, and Troy all looked to each other before nodding.

"Whatever you say," Emma chuckled and gave Gia a quick hug before leaning back into Jordan. Gia stuck out her tongue and glared at Jordan. He stuck out his tongue in return.


	62. The Easy Road

_Author's Note: I didn't get the chance to update as often as I thought I could this last week, so Robo-Knight won't be making an appearance for probably another week. He comes in for chapter 74 so the wait's not going to be much longer. As well, the episode Prince Takes Knight is my own little remake, and will feature two of my favourite Rangers. Not saying who ;)_

* * *

Gia had never been into soccer. She knew the rules, and had played for a couple of years as a little girl when her parents wanted her to play a sport over the summer, but it had never been interesting to her.

However, Jake's game was nearing the end and the score was tied three all. The whispers in the stands informed Gia this was an important game for Jake's coach, who before moving to Harwood County had been the coach for the Reefside team – the team Jake was currently playing against. Gia knew if Jake played well, and if he could pull off the game winning goal, he would have no problems getting his team to like him and accept him. He was the smallest and least experienced player on the team, but he was just as good, maybe better than most.

On the field, Jake got the ball as it came towards him and raced towards the other team's net. He saw his opponent running towards him and he knew he couldn't keep the ball, so he kicked it in the middle, ran around the bigger guy, and kept going towards the net. His teammate ran the ball up until he got into a little trouble.

In the stands, Gia was tapping her foot nervously. Jake got the ball once more, and he made it past the final defensemen. Now it was just him and the goalie. There were seconds left in the game. If Jake missed, the game would be a tie, and according to the whispers, that was just as bad as losing.

Jake kicked the ball. His shot went right, but the goalie dove left. The ball soared into the net then the referee blew the whistle. The game was over. Harwood County won.

"Yes!" Conner's cries could be heard over the cheers as he joined his team on the field to celebrate. He ran over to Jake, wrapped on arm around his newest player and made sure everyone knew who Jake was.

Conner then grabbed Jake's arms and looked him in the eyes, "Your first game, and you're the star player. Keep this up, and I'll take you far, I promise."

"Seriously?"

"High school kid, right?" Conner asked and Jake nodded his head, "Scouts from universities are coming to my games all the time, and they recruit only the best of the best. You'll be one of them, but only if you're committed."

"I love soccer," Jake nodded, "My grades aren't that great, it's my only in for university. I'm committed, one hundred percent."

"We'll work on your grades too," Conner smirked, "But I get it. School wasn't for me either."

Conner and Jake walked back to the bench, where Jake received praise and kind words from his new teammates. He had been excited for the game, but a little worried he wouldn't fit in. The rest of the team had been together for the entire season, and some knew each other from years before. They were also bigger and older, marking Jake as the runt. Though they were kind to him, he had been worried they wouldn't think he was good enough and that they wouldn't give him a chance in the game to show he could keep up.

He had been worried he couldn't keep up.

"Dinner's on me, tonight," Conner smirked, then excused himself from the team's celebration, saying he had a few friends who needed his victory rubbed in their faces.

Fans came to the field to talk to the players and congratulate them on the game. Jake was surprised to see so many people coming over to him, but the best part of the night was the running hug he received from Gia. He caught her in his arms and chuckled.

"You watched the whole game?"

"You were great," Gia said as she let him go so the others could congratulate him as well. "I had my doubts, but you proved yourself, Holling."

"That was a nail biter," Jordan nodded his head. "At one point, I thought that guy was going to cream you."

"I almost wish he had," Jake said and looked over the field. The entire game he had been marked by the biggest defencemen on the field, and while soccer was a non-contact sport, a little pushing was completely legal. At times, when Jake received the ball, he had been bowled over as the defencemen defended the net. "Then he'd have gotten kicked out."

"Victory tastes a little better when it's earned," Troy reminded Jake, "You showed him you weren't to be messed with. It was a great game."

-Megaforce-

Noah pouted as he sat at the table alone. Instead of going to watch Jake's soccer game, he was stuck on a date he didn't want to be on with a girl he had very little interest in. She had asked him out, unaware of the spell he had been under at the time, and was excited when he agreed to the date. A little manipulating from Jake and Noah found himself committed to spending the evening with Ella instead of at home working on his projects, or at the field supporting his best friend.

He had tried to make the date fun. Ella was into computers like him, but Noah's interests dove far deeper than Ella's. Even if he were interested in dating and having a girlfriend, Noah couldn't see a relationship with Ella going anywhere. Fortunately, it wouldn't be a lie when, at the end of the night, he said things weren't working out.

Ella came back from the bathroom and took a seat. Judging by the look in her eyes, she was having a great time. Noah had learned she had been admiring him for years, and had gotten into the sciences classes at school to spend more time with him. She hung on to every word he said, interrogated him about his personal life and his projects, and, really, Noah found her to be a little creepy.

"So, I had a few ideas for the Hub," she said only to stop and look to Noah, "Only if you're okay with them. I just thought my ideas would improve it so more people in school would be more active. Unless you have a better idea. Are you working on something now? You should tell me about it."

"Uh," Noah played with the food leftover on his plate, "You'll see when they're up. I'm still not sure how everything's going to work out so…"

"I'm sure whatever it is, it's going to be great!"

"I hope so, but…"

"Go over them with me. I'll tell you how amazing all your ideas are. You're such a great guy, Noah Carver, I'm so lucky…"

"Check!" Noah called to the passing waiter and then smiled innocently at Ella, "It's getting late. I'm sure your parents want you home on time."

"You're really considerate," Ella grabbed her jacket and her purse as she got ready to leave. The waiter came back with the bill and set it down on the table. Ella made no move to pay. Noah groaned. He didn't want to be on this date in the first place, and now he was stuck paying for his time to be wasted. He left enough money on the table to cover the tab and a tip, and walked out of the restaurant with Ella. Fortunately she didn't live too far away.

As they walked down the sidewalk, Noah could feel Ella trying to slip her hand into his. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. This date would not end well. Ella seemed to be under the impression that the night had gone smoothly and her feelings were being returned. Noah was going to have to break her heart.

She wrapped her arms around his and leaned her head on his shoulder. Noah groaned. When they reached her driveway, he pulled away from her.

"Tonight was… something," he had never been on a date. Before Emma and Gia, he had never really talked to girls unless he was paired up with one for an assignment, or working with them in the science or computer lab. He wasn't sure how to break the bad news, and somewhat wished Jake was here to coach him.

"I had a great time," Ella smiled nervously and looked to her shoes, "You're really sweet, Noah."

"Uh, thanks…"

"Here," Ella slipped a paper into his hand, "Call me."

She gave Noah a kiss on the cheek and then walked inside. Noah wanted to call her back to explain he wasn't interested, but then decided this was easier. He didn't need to call her. They had only been on one date – there was no commitment. He ripped up the paper with her number and dumped it in the recycling bins at the end of the street. Then he walked off and headed home.

"Glad that's over with."


	63. Jake's Fame

Jake got to school and he felt like a champion. Everyone at school had seen or heard about his game against Reefside, and how he had scored the game winning goal. A couple of local reporters had written about the game online and in the newspaper, some people put some video of his game winning goal on YouTube and even on Noah's Social Hub for all to see. There was not a soul in the school who didn't know about Jake's new team and who didn't agree with everyone else when they said Jake was the star of the game.

People he had never met before were congratulating him and giving him high fives. Girls were looking at him and smiling, and these were girls who would never give him the time of day before the previous night and now were too shy to approach him. He smiled back, gave them a wink, and he could see their hearts melting as they turned to talk about that quick moment with their friends.

Jake got to his locker and heard a laugh. He turned to Noah who was shaking his head.

"Glad to see fame doesn't go to your head."

"You hear about the game?" Jake asked. Noah nodded.

"Heard all about it. Really sad I missed it. You know I'd have been there to cheer you on, but…"

"It's cool, dude. I know I set you up. Speaking of, how was your date?"

"Awful," Noah groaned as he closed his locker and turned to Jake, "Even if I had been interested, last night would have killed it. All she wanted to talk about was me, my accomplishments, how amazing I was."

"Yeah, because that sucks," Jake teased.

"It did. I'm not into the dating scene right now."

"So you ended things?"

"Yep," Noah nodded, "I don't have to worry about seeing her again. It's for the best."

"Did she take it well?"

"It was just one date. There's no commitment or attachment," Noah shrugged his shoulders. "It's behind us. I'm sure dating is not my style, and next game, I'll be free to come watch you play. Unless you want to set me up with someone else."

"Nah, to be honest, I kind of missed you," Jake grabbed his books and started to walk to class with Noah, "After the game, Coach took us out to dinner and we met up with some of his friends. Most of them were former teammates of his from Reefside, but there was one guy who reminded me a lot of you."

"Really?"

"He was kind of nerdy, really into computers; more gaming and less robotics, but still. He was even wearing blue, and carrying his laptop around with him. Coach says they've been best friends since high school."

"Really? That's weird."

"Hey, but we've one upped them, right? I mean, we've been friends since we were kids, and we're freaking Power Rangers together. That's really cool."

Noah nodded his head as they stepped into the classroom and took their usual seats by the window. Noah pulled his books out of his bag and got his notebook set up for when class would start. When he looked back over to Jake, he saw Michaela, the head cheerleader, had taken a seat directly beside Jake.

"Whoa," Noah wasn't into girls, but even he had to admit, Michaela was stunning. Of course, she couldn't snatch Gia's title as the hottest girl in school, but she was strong competition. Given most of the boys around school couldn't land a date with Gia, they would happily settle with Michaela. However, she was choosy, and would only go out with the hottest, strongest, and most popular boys.

Noah had nothing bad to say about Jake, but there was no way a guy like him would ever be noticed by Michaela on an ordinary day.

"So," her hand was already touching his arm, and her flirting was obvious. She was hitting on Jake. Noah took off his glasses. He must not have been seeing this correctly.

Michaela gave Jake a sweet smile, "Your game against Reefside was seriously amazing. I never knew you were so athletic."

"I was on the school team since ninth grade," Jake said, "I know there aren't cheerleaders in soccer, but you must have seen me play at least once."

"I must not have noticed. It's my loss. You're really cute."

Jake blushed, "R-really?"

"You're pretty strong, too," Michaela moved her hand along Jake's arm. He blushed harder.

"Most of my muscles are in my legs," he gulped nervously. He wasn't used to getting this much attention from one of the most popular girls in school. Gia was the exception, but she didn't treat him like this. Jake had to work for Gia's attention. He had to be slow and patient with her. Michaela was practically throwing herself at him. "I do try to keep things even though…"

"Well, it shows," Michaela grinned, "Why don't you meet up with me after school. We can go for coffee or…"

"I don't really drink coffee," Jake shook his head. He saw Gia and Emma coming into the classroom and he smiled. Michaela looked over, saw Jake was smiling at Gia and rolled her eyes.

"Maybe you can take me to the soccer fields," she suggested and touched his face to get his attention once more, "You can show me how you scored that amazing goal."

"Uh, okay," Jake nodded his head. Michaela smiled and then gave him a kiss. Jake blushed and giggled as she walked out and had to rush to class as the first bell rang.

Noah's jaw dropped, "Whoa… what just happened?"

Jake shrugged his shoulders and reached for his books, "I… I have no idea, dude. I guess… I think _I'll _be the one on a date tonight."

"Do you want to go out with her, though? I mean, I thought you and Gia were kind of..."

"We're just friends for now, right? She's not looking for a relationship. I'll just…" Jake looked over to the other side of the room. Gia was scribbling something in her notebook. He got up and sat behind her. He tapped her shoulder.

"Hey, Gia."

"What?"

"You probably noticed Michaela…"

"We're just friends, Jake. I made that clear," Gia turned around and looked him right in the eyes, "I'm not ready for a relationship, but that shouldn't stop you."

"Are… are you sure? You've kind of got first dibs so…"

"Positive."

"Okay," Jake gave Gia a gentle pat on the back before he walked back to his desk and gave Noah a smile. "Might as well give it a shot."

"Gia's okay with it?"

"We're just friends, like I said. Besides, it's not every day Michaela does the asking when it comes to dates. Fame only lasts so long, right?"

"I don't know," Noah said, "Emma's kind of giving you the stink eye."

"She always is," Jake shrugged his shoulder, "Kind of like how Gia's always giving Jordan funny looks."

"If you're sure," Noah turned to face the front of the class as the bell rang and Mr. Burley, as usual, hurried into class a bumbling mess.


	64. Shirt Meet Sandwich

Emma followed Gia down the hall to their lockers as the bell rang, dismissing the students for lunch. There had been something slightly off about Gia all morning, and unlike the last time, Emma wasn't going to ignore it. If there was something wrong, she wanted to stay on top of things and make sure Gia wouldn't get hurt. However, Gia was denying that there was anything wrong.

"You can lie to yourself all you want," Emma said, "but you can't lie to me. Gia, just a few days ago you told me you were starting to like Jake."

"So?" Gia shrugged her shoulders and stopped at her locker. "I like him, big deal. I'm not ready for anything yet. I'd be a bitch if I made him wait around. He should take his chance with Michaela."

"I'm not sure I trust her," Emma shook her head, "but still, Jake asked you for permission. You should have been honest with him."

"I was. I told him we were just friends and that I needed time. I can't tell him not to date other girls because maybe, sometime, I'll want more from him. That's not fair."

"He asked your permission for a reason…"

"Em, I've been telling Jake to move on now for two years. He finally is. Maybe having a girlfriend will be good for him. Jordan makes you really happy right?"

"Yeah, I guess…"

"I'm a big girl, it's okay," Gia said. Emma put her hand on her friend's arm.

"You can always talk to me about it later."

"There will be nothing to talk about," Gia was about to open her locker when she felt a presence behind her. She and Emma turned around to see a shorter, nerdy looking and nervous girl standing behind them.

"You guys are friends with Noah, right?"

"Yeah… why?" Emma asked.

"Well, he and I went out last night. I gave him my number to call me back but I haven't heard from him. I was late to school this morning because I had an appointment for my braces, and well… I haven't seen him all day."

"He and Jake went out to lunch," Gia said. "Noah missed Jake's game, so they went to celebrate."

"Give it time," Emma smiled, "If the date did go well, I'm sure he'll call you back."

"I guess," Ella nodded, "Thanks."

She walked away with a skip in her step. Emma turned to Gia and saw the yellow Ranger shaking her head. She frowned, "What?"

"Take it from a non-dater; Noah's not interested in her."

"They seem good for each other. Maybe she'll crack his shell. It's not like Noah's had a bad experience before."

"Yeah, but he doesn't seem all that… He's just doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who wants to spend his weekends on dates. He looks like he'd rather be working in his mother's basement on some kind of robo-project."

"She looks like the kind of girl who would join him with his projects. You never know. He's allowed to change his mind. You have."

"Jake and I are friends," Gia rolled her eyes, "Don't be annoying."

"Can we just go to lunch," Emma opened her locker and grabbed her lunch bag; "I'm hungry."

"Yeah," Gia opened her locker to put her books away and then grabbed her lunch box. Probably the only downside to having Emma move in was that Gia's mother saw how healthy Emma ate. Of course, there were still the ice-cream treats from time to time, but Emma didn't eat fast food or the cafeteria food, and getting her to eat her vegetables was easier than getting her to ride her bike through the woods. When Mrs. Moran saw Emma usually packed herself a healthy, homemade lunch to bring to school, she insisted Gia start doing the same. It meant less French-fries and more carrot sticks.

Just as they stepped into the cafeteria to find Jordan and Troy, Michaela bumped into Gia, knocking her lunch box over and spilling everything inside.

"Oh, sorry!" Michaela bent over to pick up Gia's lunch, but seemed to have clumsy hands; something Gia knew was out of character. A clumsy cheerleader was not a trusted cheerleader. Somehow, in the mess, the container holding Gia's sandwich came open and the sandwich spilled all over the floor.

"You're just making it worse," Gia grumbled as she knelt down to pick up her lunch herself. When they were both on their knees, Michaela looked to Gia with a hard glare.

"Stay away from Jake."

"What?"

"We all know he's been drooling over you since we started high school," Michaela seethed, "Well, you missed your shot and it's my turn with him now. Stay away or I'll make your life in this school a living hell."

"We're just friends…"

"I've used that line too. I know you, Gia. You reel the boys in, and when you're done with them, you cast them aside and leave them to drown."

"That's what you do," Gia shook her head; "I don't lead anyone on. And if you think you're going to do that to Jake, you've got another thing coming."

Gia picked up her sandwich and dropped it down Michaela's shirt. She screamed, jumped to her feet, and stormed out of the cafeteria with her friends, whining about how she was only trying to help. Gia picked up what was left of her scattered lunch and then turned to Emma, "What?"

"What were you two whispering about? What did she say?"

"Nothing. She just wanted to make sure things between Jake and I were cool."

"Gia…"

"I can handle her, Emma," Gia shrugged her shoulders, "Let me handle this one on my own. Please."

"Alright, but I'm here if you need me," Emma said. She held out her lunch, "We can split."

"Uh, I might have to rain check," Gia groaned as the cafeteria doors opened. Ms. Chesterfield and Michaela were standing there. Ms. Chesterfield didn't seem very pleased, but Michaela had a twisted smirk on her face. "It looks like I've got another meeting with the vice-principal."

"You're going to get suspended, one of these days," Emma sighed. "I'll save you something to eat for when you get out."

"Thanks," Gia smiled and then walked over to Ms. Chesterfield, who had already let Michaela go back to her lunch and her friends.

"Walk with me, Miss Moran."

"Shouldn't we be on a first name basis by now?" Gia crossed her arms over her chest. "I have an excuse. She was asking for it. She…"

"This is a difficult time for you, Gia," Ms. Chesterfield said. "Mrs. Smith kept me up to date with your progress. You don't have to worry, your trust in her was not misplaced, but I know you have a long recovery still ahead of you. However, there's a standard of behaviour I expect from all my students, troubled ones included."

"And that includes not stuffing a sandwich down a girl's shirt?"

"Among other things," Ms. Chesterfield nodded. "Miss Moran, if Michaela has done something to you that hurt or offended you, or she is making you feel badly about what happened, you can always talk to me about it, and we can sort it out in a civil manner."

"I'll try to stay civil."

"Miss Moran…"

"I will stay civil, I promise," Gia said and looked to Ms. Chesterfield with a smile, "No more sandwiches down shirts. Can I go back to lunch now?"

Ms. Chesterfield nodded her head. Gia turned back and hurried to the cafeteria before she missed anymore time from her lunch.


	65. Ice-Cream Lies

Jake was at Ernie's for the second time today, but this time was a date. He had gone out with Michaela, and they had had a relatively good time. Jake hadn't initially been attracted to her, finding she flaunted herself too much, pushed herself on to too many guys, and she gave him the cold shoulder anytime he tried to talk to her. But now that he had her alone, and she actually liked him, he could see she was a good person.

He brought over a couple of ice-creams cones and passed one to Michaela. She gave him a sweet smile as she accepted the treat. Jake sat down beside her and very nervously he wrapped an arm around.

Though he liked her, she was nothing when compared to Gia. When Michaela let her walls down and showed her true side, she was a sweet person; a nice, average girl. When Gia let her walls down, Jake would be left stunned by how amazing she could be. Gia was amazing, smart, strong, brave, beautiful, and could also be very soft, loving, and caring. Michaela was also beautiful, but ordinary.

However, Gia was complicated. Michaela wasn't. Jake had patience for Gia, and if she walked into Ernie's at this moment, and said she was ready for him, he'd leave Michaela in a heartbeat. But that wouldn't happen and likely wouldn't happen in a while. Jake knew he had every right to explore his options. He was seventeen, dating was supposed to be fun. Gia could sort out her own problems, while he could enjoy being a teenage boy.

"Your moves on the field are pretty amazing," Michaela said to him. Jake had taken her to the soccer field for their little date – she had insisted. She wanted Jake to show off his soccer skills to her, to demonstrate how he had scored the amazing game winning goal, as well as teach her a few moves. Jake had had a nice time with her, even when soccer went from no contact, to full, tender contact. Michaela liked to use her hands.

"Thanks," Jake smiled, "I've been playing since I could walk."

"You know, if you wanted, I could get the girls to come cheer for you at the game," Michaela scooted over closer to Jake and put a hand on his leg and stroked it gently. She rested her head on his shoulder. "Get you a little pumped up next game, make the other team a little jealous."

"Soccer doesn't usually have cheerleaders," Jake shrugged his shoulders. He wrapped his arms around Michaela to hold her, but then saw Gia walking into the store by herself. He frowned, knowing she didn't like to be alone in public. She was learning to trust again, but it was a huge step between trusting friends and trusting strangers. He called her name, waved her over to the table, and invited her to sit with him and Michaela.

Michaela pulled away from him as Gia took a seat.

"I don't want to interrupt…"

"It's fine," Jake promised her then looked to Michaela, "You know Gia, right?"

"We've met," Michaela did nothing to hide her annoyance. She had told Gia to stay away.

"It's alright," Jake could see his date was somewhat bothered, "Gia and I are just friends."

"Just friends," Gia nodded to Michaela then turned back to Jake, "Emma found this really cool beetle in the woods today. She caught a few pictures of it and mom and dad decided it was worth a few milkshakes. They sent me here."

"Alone?"

"Emma's down the street printing off her pictures," Gia shook her head. She got up from her seat and smiled, "I'll just leave you two to your date."

"Please," Michaela muttered and watched as Gia went to place her order with Ernie. Jake gave her a little nudge.

"Don't be the jealous type. Gia and I are just friends. I'm here with you, and I'm not that kind of guy."

"So then why did you invite her over," Michaela rolled her eyes.

"It was just a quick chat. You have nothing to worry about."

Michaela breathed out a sigh, and then tried to hide the wicked smirk on her face. She turned to Jake and offered him a little pout, "I'm sorry, Jakey. It's just that… a lot of my previous boyfriends… they flirted with other girls right in front of me and said it meant nothing."

"Really?"

Over by the bar, Gia could overhear their conversation and she rolled her eyes. She had a hard time telling when people were being honest with her when it came to relationships, but she could smell Michaela's lie and it was foul.

Back at the table, Michaela saw she had Jake's undivided attention and figured she would milk it, "I know I've been through quite a few guys at school, but I'm just trying to find the right one, you know. One who'll actually treat me the way I deserve to be treated."

"You've always seemed really happy with your boyfriends," Jake said, "I never imagined…"

"I do my best to hide it. I have an image to keep up, you know. My last boyfriend… he was really mean."

"What do you mean?" Jake asked, and when he saw Michaela's eyes were starting to water he pulled her into his arms and held her tight.

"I can't talk about it," she sniffed, "It hurts too much."

"You can tell me," Jake assured her. Gia turned away from the bar and glared at Michaela. She stared back at Gia over Jake's shoulder and gave her a wink. Then she buried her face in Jake's shoulder and started to sob loudly so the whole room, Gia especially, could hear.

"He beat me and forced me to do things… I can't talk about it!" Michaela wailed. Gia clenched her fists.

"That's not funny," she growled.

"I know," Michaela looked up and then over to Jake, "I… I would have said something, but the whole school was talking about Gia and… I didn't think anyone would believe me. I feel like no one cares…"

"You're lying!" Gia shouted. A new wave of tears flooded down Michaela's face.

"I'm not! See, Jakey! See! No one's going to believe me."

"Gia," Jake kept Michaela in his arms as he looked up at Gia, "You know better than anyone she's been through enough."

"You're not the only girl in school, you know," Michaela said to Gia, "When guys strike out with you, they take it out on me. They make me feel like a last choice. You're lucky you're so strong, Gia. This has been going on for me for years. Every guy you turned down used me."

"Here, let me take you home," Jake said. He took off his sweater and draped it gently over Michaela's shoulders.

"You know, when I get upset, ice-cream usually…"

"I'll order another one. Don't worry, it's my treat," Jake said and he walked to the bar to talk with Ernie. Gia glared angrily at Michaela.

"This isn't funny," she said, "You have no idea what you're talking about…"

"Next time, don't crash on my date with Jake," Michaela smirked. Jake came back with the ice-cream and the smirk dropped from her face. If Gia didn't know any better, she would have believed Michaela was truly hurting inside. But she did know better, and she didn't want Jake to fall for Michaela's lies. She grabbed his arm before he could leave.

"Jake, she's lying!"

"I'm not lying!" Michaela cried. She dropped her ice-cream and ran from the shop, expecting Jake to follow her. Gia held his arm to stop him from going. She looked at him, pleading he believe her.

"She looked right at me and winked. She's mad I'm here. She already threatened me at school…"

"She's insecure, Gia. Boys have kind of cheated on her in the past."

"Jake, I'm telling you, she's lying!"

"I don't want to take the chance. If she's not, then you know just how much help she needs. I think I can help her."

"Jake…"

"I've got to go after her, Gia. I've got to make sure she's okay," he started for the door, "Look, just stay here with Ernie until Emma comes. You'll be fine, and Michaela really needs someone."

"Jake!" Gia called but he already left. Gia let out a scream and kicked the recycling bin by the door. Ernie came over, wrapped a gentle arm around her shoulders and walked her back to the bar.

"A free sundae until Emma gets here," he promised her and got to work making it. Gia sighed and looked over at Ernie.

"You saw that, right. You know she's lying."

Ernie nodded his head. He set the sundae down in front of Gia and poured extra sprinkles on top.

"I see a lot around here," he told her. Gia poked at her treat.

"Jake doesn't believe me."

"Michaela's a great liar," Ernie said, "I've seen her in here many times, with many different boys. Her stories are always different. No one's ever caught her in a lie before."

"Why haven't you said anything?" Gia looked up. Ernie shook his head.

"Jake is a good boy. Michaela is taking advantage of that."

"But he won't believe me. Ernie, I've never lied to Jake before. Even when I turned him down, I was always honest. How can he just… ignore me for… her?"

"He is a good boy with a big heart."

"You're not helping."

"There's Emma," Ernie looked to the doors as Emma walked in with a handful of pictures. Emma took a seat next to Gia.

"Did you get what you needed?" Emma asked. Gia shook her head, grabbed her bag and started to leave.

"I'm going home."

"Your ice-cream," Emma picked up her sundae and thanked Ernie. He nodded his head.

"You'll tell me about that cool beetle next time."

"What beetle?" Emma asked him before shrugging it off and going after Gia.


	66. Michaela New Target

Jake walked Michaela back to her house. He decided he would walk her in just to be sure she was safe and comfortable after her confession on their date. She had been very upset back at the Brainfreeze. Michaela invited him to stay, telling him her parents were gone for the evening. They sat on the couch and Jake had a look around before he felt Michaela snuggle into him.

"It's so nice to be around a guy who actually cares about me," she breathed as she rested her head on his chest and nestled in closer, inviting him to hold her. "I feel really safe with you."

"You should really talk to someone about what happened," Jake said. "What if I get Gia to give you Serena's number. She was a huge help…"

"Can't I just talk with you?" Michaela pouted.

"I guess," Jake nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders somewhat nervously, "but I don't really know much about… helping people."

"Well, maybe you can help me this way," Michaela looked up and leaned in a little closer to Jake so their lips were almost touching, "Maybe you can show me how a real man treats his woman."

-Megaforce-

Emma turned the corner and saw Gia storming off down the street. She ran after her, grabbing her arm so Gia knew she was trying to be caught. Then she stopped and looked up at her best friend, "Is everything okay?"

"You remember a few months back, when the cheer squad tried to get me to try out for the team?"

"Do you want to be a cheerleader?" Emma frowned. Gia shook her head.

"I said no. I'd still say no. Do you remember why I told you I said no?"

"Because Michaela and her friends were self-centered, superficial, manipulative bitches? Gia, if you don't want Jake dating then you've got to be honest with him…"

"I'm not ready to start dating!" Gia shouted a little harshly and regretted it when she saw Emma back away. She shook her head, "Sorry… I'm just not."

"That's okay, Gia, I'm sure he'll understand."

"Look, I am jealous, okay," Gia shrugged her shoulders and started walking, with Emma sticking close, "Jake's the only guy who's ever really liked me for me and now he's with someone else, but if I really cared about him, I would want what's best for him. Right now, that's not me."

"That's really mature of you."

"That said, Michaela's a lying witch. I hate her, I hate what she's doing to Jake, and I'm going to do everything I can to break them up."

"Gia…"

"She told Jake she's been abused by past boyfriends too," Gia growled. "She put on a whole show for him at Ernie's, saying the boys didn't treat her right, that she's just jealous of me because her boyfriends have cheated and hurt her before, but she's lying."

"Are you sure?"

"She winked at me. Ask Ernie! He saw it too! And Jake… Jake fell for it. He's with her, right now, probably taking care of her," Gia clenched her fists and looked down at the sidewalk. "She's using what happened to me to take advantage of him."

There was a silence from Emma. Gia thought it was because her friend didn't believe her. Jake hadn't. It wasn't too far a stretch to say Emma wouldn't. Gia had no proof behind her claims, and it wasn't like Michaela would admit to lying. Gia turned to her best friend and saw Emma staring at the sundae she had taken from Ernie's.

"Em…"

"Why would she do that? That's… that's horrible!"

Gia breathed a sigh of relief, "You believe me?"

"Look, go home," Emma nodded. Their house was just down the street; Gia could make it home by herself safely, especially with Mick and Alex's parole officers hanging around the neighbourhood. "I'll go talk to Jake. If he believes her, maybe he just thinks you're jealous because she's stealing the spotlight."

"The spotlight I've been trying to get rid of for years?"

"I'll talk to him, okay? If that doesn't work, we bring the big guns in."

"Big guns? Troy and Jordan have nothing to do with…"

"Noah," Emma chuckled. "He's Jake's best friend, and he's also got a lot of common sense. Jake will listen to him."

Emma gave Gia a quick hug, "It'll be fine. She's not going to hurt him."

-Megaforce-

Jake leaned back against the couch. Michaela was on top of him. They were only kissing, but Michaela was definitely pushing it.

He wasn't used to this much attention, but he had gotten some from girls before. The school soccer team did fairly well in games, earning some admirers, but those girls preferred him in uniform. When he was at school in his jeans and sweater, he was just a typical student. There was nothing impressive about him.

Now that he was on a new team, Conner McKnight's team, the girls loved him. Michaela was proof of that. She had no idea of his existence until he had been named star player in the recent game. Since then, she couldn't take her hands off of him.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Michaela tried to ignore it, preferring to shove her tongue down Jake's throat, but the knocking persisted so she had no choice. She apologized to Jake and went to see who was bothering her. Jake got up and followed her. He was surprised to see Emma.

"Gosei's looking for you," Emma said to Jake. He furrowed his brow and straightened out his shirt.

"He is?"

"He said something about this new card," Emma nodded her head.

"Who the hell is Gosei?" Michaela asked then turned to Emma, "Sorry, but whoever this Gosei guy is, he's going to have to wait until tomorrow. Jake and I…"

"Actually, it's important," Jake grabbed his bag and started for the door. "Sorry, Michaela, I'll call you later."

"You better hurry!" Emma said to Jake as he raced down the street, "It seemed very important," when he was out of earshot Emma turned to Michaela, "You're a two-faced bitch."

"Whoa, hey! What did I do?"

"What happened to Gia is really serious," Emma growled. "Trust me; I've been there for her since day…"

"You two had a falling out," Michaela shook her head, "C'mon, Emma, you really think I'm stupid? I put the pieces together. I used to date one of Cliff's best friends. When I heard what happened, everything made sense."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't try and be all high and mighty. Gia didn't listen to you when you tried to tell her Cliff was bad news, so you abandoned her."

"What you think means nothing," Emma growled. "I've been there for Gia. I know what she's been through. The fact that you're using that to manipulate Jake is disgusting."

"Now, I'm out to get you now too," Michaela shoved Emma out of her house. "Watch your back, because I'm going to destroy you and Gia, and then I'll keep Jake all to myself."

"You can't…" Emma started but Michaela slammed the door in her face. Emma shoved her hands in her pockets and groaned. She pulled out her phone. "Alright, big guns, if we can't talk some sense into Michaela, maybe you can talk some sense into Jake."


	67. Something's Not Right

Noah was concerned after getting a call from Emma regarding Michaela. He had been a little suspicious of her since she asked Jake out in class, but he had assumed Jake would just be another one of her phases. He thought she would dump him when she was done with him, and it was sure to hurt Jake, but at the very least it would have been something. Jake wouldn't have liked hearing from his best friend that the first girl to show any real interest in him was actually a bitch – and didn't have any real interest in him either.

But he believed Emma. He had no doubt Michaela was playing a pity card, trying to make herself seem more vulnerable and scared because she knew it worked for Gia and she knew it would get Jake to focus on her. Noah had no doubt Michaela could be a bitch. She had bullied him occasionally in middle school. He knew she had it in her to be mean.

So he walked to school with Jake, hoping he could convince Jake to see the true Michaela. Jake wouldn't listen.

"She's hurting. We were surprised when Gia admitted what happened to us," he said with a shrug, "Too many girls suffer in silence."

"Yeah, but Michaela's not one of them."

"You haven't talked to her," Jake shook his head, "There's just… something about her that can't be faked. I see it in her eyes, she's really hurting."

"Yeah, but Jake…"

"She didn't appreciate Gia calling her a liar. Emma telling me Gosei needed me when he didn't, that was rude too. Now you're doing it? Noah, Emma's got Gia's back. You're supposed to have mine."

"I do! I'm trying to look out for you. Michaela's bad news!"

"She's hurting," Jake stopped just in front of the school and he stared at Noah, "Look, if she's a liar then that's on her conscience. I'm helping her just in case she's not. The last thing she needs is someone else turning their back on her. In fact, I'm going to see her."

Jake started down the hall. He turned around and glared at Noah, "Look, if you can't be happy for me then just… go hang out with someone else."

Noah groaned, rolled his eyes, and continued down the hallway to his locker. On his way over, he heard a loud piercing scream. It caused him, and many other students to turn the corner to see what had happened. Around the corner, Noah knew Gia and Emma had their lockers. The scream sounded like it belonged to them. He pushed his way through the crowd of people until he got to the middle. He looked down. Emma was in her knees on the ground, surrounded by small, dead animals. Noah knelt beside her, taking her in his arms.

"What happened?" he asked her, though it was obvious what had happened. Her locker was opened, on the floor were a couple of dead critters, and Emma was sobbing inconsolably. Someone had pranked her, and they had been mean about it. For as long as Noah had known Emma, she had always been passionate about the environment. She protected plants and animals alike, and wouldn't hesitate to give anyone a lecture when she saw they weren't doing their part to protect their planet. She was even a vegetarian, a decision she had made at a young age when she found out where meat came from, and couldn't get over the idea of eating one of the precious animals she was trying to protect. Though she claimed it was fine when her friends ate meat because she knew she couldn't change her mind, Noah had noticed a faint look of disgust and sadness.

Putting dead animals in anyone's locker was mean – but it was even worse for Emma. Noah helped her up to her feet just in time for Jordan to arrive. He pushed through the crowd and took his girlfriend in his arms. As he tried to console her, he looked to Noah.

"Where's Gia?"

It was a good question. Emma was crying hysterically. Jordan had run over as soon as he heard what had happened and expected to find Gia already comforting Emma. They lived together, they did everything together. If Emma was at school, so was Gia.

Noah shrugged, "I haven't seen her."

A little ways down the hall, Michaela had convinced Jake there was nothing to see after they heard the scream and insisted they use this time when most of the halls were empty so he could walk her to class. Just as Michaela finished passing her books for Jake to carry, she was grabbed and slammed into her locker and held up against the cool metal by Gia.

"Do whatever you want to me," Gia growled, "Leave Emma out of this."

"What are you talking about?" Michaela asked, faking innocence and fear for Jake's sake, but Gia could see the lies in her eyes. "I didn't do anything."

"Gia, what happened," Jake tried to pull Gia away from Michaela, but the yellow Ranger couldn't be moved. She continued to glare at Michaela, pushing her harder against the lockers. Michaela whimpered, faking a lack of breath.

"Jakey, help!"

"Gia! Get off!" Jake ripped Gia away and stood in front of Michaela, "I've been with her the whole time. She hasn't done anything!"

"Explain the dead animals in Emma's locker! You're a sick, lying, manipulative, murderous bitch!" Gia shouted. "Leave Emma out of this, Michaela, or I swear,the next person who opens a locker will find you…"

"I didn't do anything!" Michaela cried. Gia lunged for her again, but was stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder pull her back roughly. She turned around and saw Ms. Chesterfield glaring angrily at her.

"Office. Now."

Gia growled, threw her bag into the lockers and then stormed off. Ms. Chesterfield was right behind her, making sure she walked down to the office so the two of them could talk.

Jake looked to Michaela, seeing she was doing what she could to calm down after the confrontation. He took her in his arms and held her warmly.

"I can talk to her about this later…"

"No," Michaela shook her head. "I don't want you talking to her."

"She's my friend, Michaela. She means a lot to me…"

"She's insane, for starters," Michaela looked up at Jake with tears in her eyes, "She attacked me! And you used to have a crush on her."

"I know! But I'm not that kind of guy. Gia and I are just friends."

"You're not allowed to see her," Michaela said. "Her or any other girl."

Jake took a step back and pushed Michaela away. He shook his head, "Michaela, Gia and Emma are my friends. I can't just…"

"Please?" Michaela placed her hand on Jake's chest and leaned in closer to him. She kissed his neck, "For me, Jakey?"

Her hand traveled down his chest and then up his shirt. She rubbed him, making him feel good. Jake gulped as the good feeling brought him doubt. So he grabbed Michaela, pinned her against the lockers and kissed her, letting himself have his way with her. Michaela didn't refuse, she didn't push him away, and she took things further.

So Jake stopped. He pulled away from her and shook his head. Michaela looked up at him.

"What's wrong?"

The bell rang for class. Jake shook his head.

"I've got to go."

"Jake…?"

Jake took his bag and ignored her as he set off for class. Michaela went after him and grabbed his arm. He brushed her off.

"Will I see you later?"

He turned into Mr. Burley's classroom, leaving Michaela in the hall by herself.


	68. Michaela's True Side

Emma still had tears in her eyes as lunch time rolled around, and she picked at her sandwich, unable to eat even though it was vegetarian. Every time she thought she was done crying her mind would flash back to the dead animals in her lockers, she would feel badly for the poor creatures, and the waterworks would start up again.

Seeing her tears made Jordan upset. He knew he wasn't the cause of her pain, and he wanted to know who was behind the mean, insensitive prank so he could tell them where to go. However, though he wasn't the cause of the pain, there was nothing he could do to make her feel better. He told her the animals were in a better place, Emma would scream at him about how they died for no good reason. He held her in his arms, but she wouldn't stop crying. There was nothing he could do to console her and that made him almost just as miserable as she was.

"Here," Troy came over to the lunch table and placed a brownie next to Emma, "I made a stop at the health food store around the corner. The brownie is vegan, so there's no animal anything in there."

"Thanks, dude," Jordan said as he saw Emma pick at the brownie and eat it. It wasn't the greatest choice for lunch, but at the very least she was eating something. It seemed she wanted nothing to do with used or dead animals at this point, and her cheese sandwich put her off.

"Whoever pulled that prank is sick," Troy muttered. "On anyone else, it would have been a cruel, stupid, disgusting prank, but on you, Emma… I can't believe someone would do that."

Jordan wrapped his arm around Emma and hugged her close, "I'm on your side, Em, you know I am, but have you done anything to piss anyone off? You didn't go yelling at the football team again for throwing their water bottles on the ground, did you?"

Emma shook her head. At that very moment, she felt something cold and wet splash her, soaking her hair, her face, and her whole upper body. Her body tensed up. She had no idea what to do at this point, still in shock from the prank earlier that morning.

"Enjoy the gravy, bitch," Michaela muttered and tossed the container at Emma. "It's one hundred percent animal drippings."

"What the hell?" Jordan slammed his fists in the table and jumped to his feet as Troy got up to get some napkins for Emma. Jordan glared at Michaela, "You think this is funny?"

"No," Michaela flipped her hair over her shoulder, "Jake broke up with me, and seeing as Gia's not around, I'd figure I'd get my message across some other way. Emma's partially responsible anyways."

Michaela smirked then turned around to what most students in school had nicknamed the cheer table. She looked to her friends and waved for them to follow her out to make a point, but none of them got up.

"What? Seriously? Fine then," Michaela stormed out by herself. Jordan wanted to go after her, but instead he sat down beside Emma and helped Troy try to clear off as much of the gravy as they could.

Emma had had enough. Her tears streamed down her cheeks as she pushed away from the table, got up, and ran from the cafeteria, sobbing loudly before she reached the door. She raced down the hall, desperate to leave the school until she was suddenly grabbed and hugged tightly. She had no idea who was holding her, but accepted the loving hug.

Mr. and Mrs. Moran had been called to the school for Gia, and had a meeting over lunch with Ms. Chesterfield to discuss her recent behaviour. They weren't please with what they saw as soon as they stepped foot in the school as a sobbing Emma tried to run past them, covered in a brownish, thick liquid that looked and smelled like gravy. Mr. Moran confirmed his suspicions when he grabbed Emma and hugged her tightly.

Ms. Chesterfield stepped out of the office with Gia. Her mother gave her a stern look while her father went to the bench by the front entrance to sit and comfort Emma.

"Giana Moran," her mother growled, "What's this I hear about you getting into a fight with another student?"

"It was hardly a fight," Gia rolled her eyes. Ms. Chesterfield sighed.

"Mrs. Moran, your daughter has been through quite a bit, recently…"

"That's still no excuse," Mrs. Moran continued to glare at Gia, "Explain yourself."

"Michaela stuffed Emma's locker with dead animals!" Gia cried and then pointed to Emma, "She probably did that too!"

"The principal is looking into the locker prank," Ms. Chesterfield nodded her head. "We are reviewing the security tapes. But that still doesn't explain Gia putting her sandwich down Michaela's shirt."

"She's a bitch!" Gia shouted. "She's threatened me! She's lying to Jake! I was defending myself and Emma!"

Ms. Chesterfield pulled Mrs. Moran aside, "As I said, your daughter's been through a lot recently, and given what's happened, I wouldn't be surprised if she's trying to make up for her lack of power and control by… bullying some of the other students. I'd consider getting some professional help. My brother in-law works in therapy, and he's got a group of young girls he's working with now. Gia would fit right…"

"I don't need therapy!" Gia shouted and looked to her mom, "Michaela asked Jake out, I told him it was fine with me. We bumped into each other yesterday at lunch, and she told me to back off or she'd come after me! Then she came up with this lie about how boys have been hurting her too, Jake believed her, Emma tried to stand up for me, Michaela put dead animals in her locker, so I went to confront her! I did nothing wrong!"

"Gia, calm down…"

"Michaela's lying! She's turning what happened to me into some sick pick-up line!" by now Gia was crying, but she was doing her best to hold it all in. "She's coming after me and Emma and she's using fucking rape to get a good guy like Jake! I'm not crazy, she's just a bitch!"

"I broke it off with her."

Gia, Mrs. Moran, and Ms. Chesterfield turned around to see Jake standing awkwardly in the hallway. He had his hands in his pockets.

Jake cleared his throat, "Last night, Michaela kept talking about how her last boyfriends used to abuse her, how she had a hard time trusting guys… well, you know by now. Noah talked to me this morning about it, saying she was bad news, but I brushed him off. Then today, after she and Gia fought, I kissed her. I let myself have my way with her more than I should but… when she liked it, and when she pushed for more… I got this bad feeling. I talked to some of her friends on the cheer squad and, turns out, she was never mistreated by her boyfriends. So I broke up with her."

"Mr. Holling, what you do with your girlfriend is…"

"My business, I know," Jake interrupted Ms. Chesterfield, "but everything Gia's saying about Michaela being a liar and a bitch… that part's true. And, once you see on the security tapes who put the animals in Emma's locker, I'm sure you're going to see Michaela. I believe she did threaten Gia and Emma. Sorry, Gia, I should have believed you yesterday."

"It's okay," Gia whispered back.

Ms. Chesterfield groaned, "This school's giving me grey hairs," she walked back into the office after thanking the Morans for stopping by the school. She had a lot of work to do figuring out the mess her students were getting into.

Jake looked to Mrs. Moran, "Gia did kind of push Michaela around, but it wasn't unprovoked. I was there. She was standing up for Emma, and she didn't cross any lines."

"Thank you," Mrs. Moran nodded her head and then told Jake to head back to his lunch. She turned to her daughter, "Gia…"

"I'm not crazy, mom. I don't need therapy. She was just a…"

"Gia, it's okay," her mother opened her arms, inviting her in for a hug. Mrs. Moran kissed the top of her daughter's head, "It hurts. All of it hurts. I know."

Gia sobbed into her mother's chest until her father put his hand on her back, "Go wait in the car with Emma."

Gia nodded and walked out of the school with her best friend. Mr. Moran turned to his wife as he took off his jacket. As a result of trying to comfort a gravy-coated Emma, he had gotten some gravy on himself.

"I'm quitting my job."

"Joe…"

"We agreed Gia needs unconditional support through this. I just barely squeezed out of a meeting at work to get down here. And Emma's going through a rough time too. Her parents aren't around, and I worry if we're not too, she's going to feel abandoned."

"She has Gia…"

"I'm not letting a seventeen year old lean on another seventeen year old," Mr. Moran shook his head. "Those girls are great for each other, but they need more. They need a full time parent. Not two parents with full time jobs."

"Then I'll quit," Mrs. Moran said. "You earn more, you've got the benefits, we're better off if I stay home."

"Vanessa, are you sure? I'm fine with…"

"We'll still need money, Joe. I know it doesn't buy happiness, but it does pay the mortgage and buy food."

"We'll shuffle some things around at home," Mr. Moran nodded.

Outside, the girls were waiting by the car. Gia had dried her eyes by now but Emma was still upset. Gia took her bottled water from her bag and poured it on Emma's head, washing away what was left of the gravy.

"You didn't kill the cow," she reminded her. Emma nodded her head.

"I know… I just…"

"I know," Gia nodded. She hugged her best friend, "We'll go home, we'll get you cleaned up, and then we'll have a funeral for the little guys. We'll give them a proper goodbye in the park."

"In public? Gia, you don't…"

"Yeah, I do," Gia smiled. "They died unfairly, but we can still pay our respects. The park's a good place, right? I figure the open space, the trees…"

"Yeah," Emma wiped her eyes and smiled. "Thanks, Gia."


	69. It's Safe To Fall

Jake dragged his feet on the walk home, upset by the day's events. Though he knew things could have been a lot worse for a lot longer, they had gotten very bad pretty quickly. He had only just started dating the girl he considered second hottest in the school, when his relationship went belly up. She had lied to him, used him, and hurt Gia and Emma just to flatter her own ego and prove she was the queen bee, and she was there to stay.

It was bully behaviour, Troy had explained to him, and that much was obvious. Michaela felt threatened by Gia, and so decided to make her feel weak by picking on her, and when she was too scared to go after Gia herself, she went after what she saw as a weaker target: Emma.

Fortunately, she would pay for her mistakes. The security cameras proved that she had been the one to put the dead animals in Emma's locker, which was already enough to warrant a suspension - and a long one. And, as if that one wasn't enough, Michaela's cheer team, the team she led, had gone in to talk with Ms. Chesterfield. They told her what Michaela had told them. Though Michaela could do what she wanted in her relationships, and using Jake and breaking his heart couldn't get her in trouble with the school, her behaviour towards Gia and Emma was a real cause for concern with Chesterfield. Not only were the dead animals too far to go with a prank, but Michaela's lies about abuse were serious. Ms. Chesterfield didn't want to condone that type of behaviour and so she went to talk to the principal. It wasn't an easy decision, but they had kicked Michaela out of school. This behaviour wouldn't be accepted. When Jake was leaving the school, he saw Michaela with her angry parents. She was packing up her bag, grabbing what was hers from her locker, and trying to explain to her parents and the school principal that she hadn't done anything wrong. Gia had provoked her.

Jake couldn't help but feel it was his fault. Everything. The moment Michaela suddenly fell head over heels with him was the moment the alarm bells should have gone off in his head saying there was something wrong. Now he could see Michaela only liked him because his position on the local soccer team seemed to make him more popular and cooler than all the other guys in school. She wanted him for his status, and then wanted him because Gia wanted him. She had what Gia Moran wanted, and that made Jake more attractive.

Michaela never liked Jake because of who she was – rather, she liked him for what he was. It hurt. It hurt a lot.

It dawned on him this was how Gia was feeling. He would be a liar if he said he wasn't attracted to her for her looks. He would be a liar if he said her beauty wasn't the first thing he noticed, and that her charm, her smarts, and her personality were what initially drew him in. He liked her for all those reasons, but it was definitely her body that first caught his attention. Her body caught the attention of most of the boys in school, and when they spoke of her they spoke of nothing but how hot she was, or how popular she was, and how if they dated her, they would be everything Gia was by association.

It was no wonder she refused to date. Jake understood it now. It was a horrible feeling knowing he had been used.

"I tried to warn you she was trouble," Noah said as he walked home with Jake. At the last minute, Mr. Burley had announced a field trip was coming up, and he had rushed around the school to find the students from his classes so that he could hand out the permission forms that their parents would need to sign. Jake and Noah collected extra forms to bring to Gia and Emma who missed the end of school because of Michaela.

Jake grumbled and shook his head, "I don't need the _I told you so_ speech."

"Sorry," Noah looked apologetic. "Are you okay?"

"I did kind of like Michaela," Jake said, "And I trusted her."

"Yeah, I could see that," Noah nodded. "You bought her lies, and you really wanted to help her."

"I should have trusted Gia…"

"Why? It's not like there was any proof Michaela was lying," Noah shrugged his shoulders, "I mean, we could all tell, but there was no way of knowing for sure. She's a pretty good liar."

"Yeah, but I don't normally fall for these… scams."

Noah stopped walking and grabbed his friend's arm. He turned Jake so they were facing each other and he looked the black Ranger straight in the eye.

"You're an amazing guy, Jake. You come on a little too strong with the ladies, which kind of scares them off, but if they can get past that, they'll know you're a huge catch."

"Uh… thanks?"

"What I'm saying is, you deserve to have girls lining up to date you. Girls who dream of having a boyfriend as nice as you. But for some reason, that's not happening and it's frustrating."

"What do you know?" Jake rolled his eyes, "You have that Ella chick."

"Just because I don't date, doesn't mean I'm clueless about it," Noah groaned. "Jake, Michaela's the first girl to ever like you like that. You got a little caught up, and that's understandable. If I were you, I would just be happy I had friends who cared about me enough to make me see sense, friends who were there to pull me out of the fire before I really got burned."

"Yeah, thanks for trying to warn me, Noah. I should have listened to you."

"I'd love to take full credit for this on," Noah shook his head, "but Gia's the one who fought for you this time. I was just the messenger."

"I guess she did," Jake nodded his head. Noah looked to him with a smile.

"Like I said, it's a good thing you have friends who'll look out for you. It makes stuff like this a lot easier to handle. Michaela was a bitch, and I hate that she hurt you, but that's got nothing to do with you, Jake. She's the problem. Next time the warning bells don't go off in your head, I'll make sure to smack some sense into you so this doesn't happen again."

"I would rather it wouldn't," Jake sighed. "I did my best for Michaela, and I was my best. She didn't even like me. From now on, promise me you'll only ever let me date girls who actually do like me."

"That's what I just said," Noah rolled his eyes and then smirked, "but yeah, I promise."

"Sweet. And maybe one day, you'll create a robot for yourself to marry, and I'll stop the wedding because… well, that's just creepy."

"I'm going to marry a real girl," Noah groaned. "Not every teenage boy wants to start dating. What don't you understand?"

"The not dating part," Jake teased and nudged his best friend. "Seriously though, thanks, Noah."

"Anytime," Noah nodded his head. He then pulled Jake down the sidewalk as they started to head away from their own homes and down a different direction. Jake seemed confused at first. Noah laughed, "We have Gia's and Emma's permission slips, remember?"

"Right," Jake suddenly took the lead. He had something he wanted to tell Gia. His experience with Michaela and Noah's words made him realize something important. Something he was desperate to share with Gia in hopes that it would make up for all she had to take to try and keep Michaela from hurting him.

When the boys got to the girls' house, Jake knocked. The door was answered by a frustrated Mr. Moran. He was on the phone, and the conversation didn't look like it was an enjoyable one.

"You," Mr. Moran growled when he saw Jake, then he pointed to the phone before covering up the receiver, "I'm on the phone with your girlfriend's parents, explaining to them why their daughter's just been suspended, and they won't have it."

"Ex-girlfriend," Jake corrected but Mr. Moran's growl made him wish he had stayed silent. He backed up behind Noah, using the blue Ranger as a human shield.

Noah rolled his eyes and looked up at Mr. Moran, "We have some forms for Gia and Emma from Mr. Burley at school…"

"Park," Mr. Moran said and then continued his conversation on the phone, "Shut up! If you daughter goes anywhere near either of mine for any reason, I'll be coming after you!"

He slammed the door shut on Noah's face. Fortunately, the blue Ranger had enough sense to step back before he was hurt. Then he turned to Jake.

"The park, I guess."

"What are they doing there?"

-Megaforce-

Gia didn't actually have the bodies of the dead animals Michaela had shoved in Emma's lockers – not that she wanted to touch them – so she had to make do with a couple of candles she bought at the corner store. She placed them on a patch of dirt and then turned to her best friend.

"Any words?"

Emma shook her head. The gravy had been washed off, but she still felt dirty from it, and she couldn't get the image of the dead animals out of her locker. She wiped away the tears from her eyes and tried not to cry. For years she had been teased over her love of the environment. In the fourth grade, the class had a pet gerbil, who died one day. Naturally, all the students were sad for a while, but eventually got over the loss. Emma was the only kid who continued to cry until the end of the school year, and even on the first day of fifth grade. Any time anyone mentioned the name of the gerbil, Emma couldn't stop the tears.

She had cried when she overheard two boys talking about how they used a magnifying glass to burn ants in their backyard. She cried when, in kindergarten, one kid decided he would be funny and flush the class' goldfish down the toilet alive. She even cried when a group of girls decided to spend recess picking dandelions from the ground to throw at each other, and she gave them an hour long lecture about how all plants were important and the earth needed to be left alone.

The girls threw dandelions and dirt in her face. When Emma explained to the teacher why she was so dirty, the teacher tried not to laugh. The others students weren't as polite, and burst out laughing.

No one understood Emma's love for nature and no one took the time to understand. They called her sensitive and said she was stupid. No one seemed to realize that nature was as important to her as superheroes and action figures were to the boys, and Barbies and dresses were to the other girls. When a girl ripped her dress and cried over it, everyone tried to comfort her. When one boy broke another boy's Spider-man action figure, he was sent to the office for bad behaviour, and the Spider-Man was repaired by the next morning.

Only Gia seemed to understand. Only Gia would stand with Emma in the middle of the park and hold a funeral for some dead chipmunks, rabbits, and squirrels that weren't even present for their own goodbye.

Gia saw Emma was about to cry and gave her a smile, "It's okay. This shouldn't have happened. I'm a little sad about it too."

Emma nodded her head and she let a tear roll down her cheek. Gia started to light the candles, one for every animal that Michaela had murdered for her prank.

"We can stay until you feel a little better," Gia promised. She took a seat near the candles to keep an eye on them and pulled out her notes from her bag. Her Ranger duties and personal life were keeping her from attending class regularly, but she was determined to keep up in her work. One thing she knew she was was smart. She wouldn't lose that.

Emma stared at the candles until she heard the ground shifting under someone's foot. She turned around and saw Jake and Noah coming her way.

"Candles?" Noah asked.

Gia looked up, "For the animals from the prank."

"It's stupid…" Emma whispered. Noah shook his head.

"Naw, what Michaela did was really mean. She didn't have to go that far," he reached into his bag and pulled out a form. "Mr. Burley was passing these out after you left. We're going on a field trip."

"To collect plant samples? That sounds cool."

"I thought so too," Noah smiled. "We'll be studying the samples we collect so we can learn more about the plants. It should be really cool."

"I already know a lot," Emma smirked, "but I don't think I've ever studied samples under a microscope."

"I can help you. We'll be in teams of two. Unless you want to be with Gia…?"

"No, switching things up should be fine," Emma looked over her shoulder at Gia, who was talking with Jake, "Besides, it's probably better for Gia if she's paired up with someone other than me from time to time. As long as it's Jake or Troy."

"Sounds good," Noah smiled. He pointed to the dotted line at the bottom of the form, "Just have your parents sign here, and give it back to Mr. Burley by tomorrow morning and you'll be good to go."

Emma's face fell and Noah noticed when he looked back up. He furrowed his brow, "What?"

"I haven't seen my parent since… you know."

"I didn't mean it like that," Noah corrected himself and seemed a little confused, "I just… Jake and I… we were at your place…"

"Gia's house?"

"Um… well, we saw Mr. Moran and… he was on the phone, I guess with Michaela's parents. He was kind of pissed with what she did and he referred to you as one of his daughters. So I just kind of figured…"

"He did?"

Noah nodded, "Yeah. He seemed pretty pissed by the whole thing. And I saw you storming out of the cafeteria earlier when you were covered in… gravy?"

"Unfortunately," Emma sighed.

"Well, if I didn't know any better, I'd have sworn Mr. Moran was actually your dad. It looks like he really cares about you. It kinda looks like he loves you. Like a dad… you know."

"Really?"

"I like to think I'm pretty observant," Noah answered and shrugged his shoulders slightly. "I could be wrong but… I'm not usually. Not with things like this."

"They have always been there for me. They took me in without a second thought. Maybe you're not wrong."

"Either way, have them sign here," Noah pointed to the form again and then he looked to the little candles on the ground. "Uh… rest in peace? It was too soon… I'm not good at this."

"Thanks for trying," Emma chuckled. She gave Noah a warm hug.

Meanwhile, Jake sat with Gia, sneaking a couple of peeks at her homework to get her attention. When he annoyed her enough she sighed and turned to him.

"Holling?"

"Just wanted to say thanks for calling Michaela on her bluff. And sorry I was an idiot about it."

"It's fine," Gia shrugged her shoulders. "I'm just glad it worked out… well, kind of. You okay?"

Jake nodded his head and smiled, "I'll get over it. We only dated for twenty-four hours."

"Yeah, but… are you sure? Seems like you fell for her pretty hard."

"My friends caught me," Jake smiled. He gave Gia a warm smile, "You know we'll catch you too, right?"

Gia shrugged her shoulders, "Sure…"

"I'm serious. It's easier to risk falling when you know there's a net or something under you that'll keep you from getting hurt. I promised not to pressure you and that we're just friends, but that's not going to stop me from caring, so… know I'll always be there for you."

"I know."

"I'm not going to let anything hurt you. Ever. I promise."

"I know," Gia smiled and leaned over to give Jake a kiss on the cheek. "Michaela's got no idea what she's missing."

"Thanks," Jake grinned goofily and then pointed to Gia's homework, "So, uh… need any help with… that?"

Gia turned to him and cocked and eyebrow, "Wanna rephrase that, Holling?"

"Mind helping me with mine?" Jake reached for his bag and pulled out his textbook and his notes, "I didn't get Mr. B's ramble about… well, anything."

Gia grabbed Jake's book and opened it to the first page, "Well, chapter one…"

"I meant today!"

"You sure?"

Jake sighed loudly, "Fine…"


	70. Emma's Parents

Emma bedtime routine was complete. She was wearing her most comfortable pyjamas; she had brushed her teeth, washed her face from all the dirt of the day, and wrote the email to her parents. She had said goodnight to Gia, gotten her bags ready for school the next day, and all her homework was complete. Everything was ready to go in the morning, and everything was ready for bed in this moment.

Yet something felt different, and it had been different since her talk with Noah. Her world had changed drastically since Gia's parents had taken her in, and her own parents left her behind to continue on with their lives without having to worry for her. Emma had gotten what she wanted. She could stay in Harwood with her friends and continue her life undisrupted but it was still… strange.

In a way, her parents leaving her behind was a good thing, but their abandonment opened up wounds Emma hadn't been aware of until now. Before being taken in by Mr. and Mrs. Moran her life had been her life – it was what she knew and what she was used to. There was nothing better and nothing worse out there for her. Her parents being gone most of the time was normal. Fending for herself was normal. Being alone in a big house was normal. But Mr. and Mrs. Moran took her in, they cared for her, and they showed her how parents were supposed to care for their children, and what a family looked and felt like. Now Emma could see why Gia spoke ill of her parents when she found out they had abandoned her for New York. Emma realized her parents had never been parents.

It was unsettling, and left Emma unsure about quite a lot about her past home life and her life now. Her parents didn't behave as parents, but they were her parents. They had given birth to her, put a roof over her head, clothed her, and given her an education. They gave her enough money to feed herself. On paper, that was parenting.

But Mr. and Mrs. Moran took care of her. They said they loved her, and they had shown it. Mr. Moran had kicked down at door in the middle of the night when he heard Emma screaming. He had taken her in his arms when he saw her running by in tears. He never lied to her. Mrs. Moran took care of her by cooking meals, giving her a shoulder to cry on, and listening to Emma rant on about anything that was of concern for her. She knew things about her that her own mother didn't know. However, they hadn't given birth to her. They weren't parents in that sense. They couldn't be her parents. They were Gia's. Emma would never take that away from her best friend. She wouldn't wedge herself into the family. It wasn't Gia's fault Emma's parents had screwed up. Gia shouldn't have to lose her parents so that Emma could feel…

Something. The more thought Emma put into her parents and her life growing up, the more she realized she didn't know what to do or how to feel. She realized she didn't know what it felt like to be a part of a real family.

It kept her awake, all those thoughts and all those questions. Frustrated, Emma got out of bed and decided to write her parents another email. She turned on her computer and typed away at the keys, ranting on and on about how she hated what her parents had done to her, how she wished they were home so she could yell and scream at them and make them feel poorly for making her feel so confused.

She hated her parents. She never wanted to because they were her parents, but she hated them. As she typed up the email, she knew that if something were to happen to them – some freak accident that claimed their lives – she wouldn't be sorry. She wouldn't miss them. They were already dead to her.

But it hurt. Knowing they were gone, knowing they weren't coming back, and knowing they were as good as dead hurt even more. Emma finished the email in tears, slammed the lid of her laptop shut, grabbed her head and leaned against her desk sobbing. She tried to be quiet so as not to wake the rest of the house, but there were some cries she couldn't keep down.

She barely noticed it, but someone had come into her room. A hand touched her back before she was turned around and taken into Mrs. Moran's arms. She was hugged warmly, gently, and lovingly until her sobs started to calm. Then, Mrs. Moran pulled away. Not too far, but far enough so she could look at Emma.

"I love you," she whispered. Emma started to cry again. She had no idea how Mrs. Moran knew, but those were words she had been dying to hear. She hadn't even known she needed to hear them, but Mrs. Moran seemed to know what to say and exactly when to say it.

Then, Mrs. Moran pulled a little further away and took Emma's hand. She signalled for Emma to be quiet as they walked from the room and down the hall. Mrs. Moran took Emma up to the attic.

"Let me know if I'm wrong, but you were writing an email to your parents, right?"

Emma nodded her head, "How did you…?"

"The laptop was a good guess," Mrs. Moran smirked. "It was set to sleep and plugged into the wall. Whenever you're not using it, it's always unplugged and shut off."

Emma nodded again. Mrs. Moran was right. Anytime something wasn't in use, Emma always unplugged it. Every little bit of energy saved was good. It drove the Morans crazy, as every morning they had to wake up to find most of their smaller appliances had been unplugged by Emma overnight, but none of them ever said anything since she had moved in. They all knew how important it was to her.

Mrs. Moran pulled off the cover from an old couch and invited Emma to sit down beside her. Emma did as she was asked and pulled her knees up to her chest to hug them. Mrs. Moran gave her a comforting smile, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I wouldn't know where to start," Emma shrugged. "Mom and dad… they are my parents, right?"

"I knew this was coming," Mrs. Moran sighed. She wrapped her arms around Emma and gave her a gentle, loving squeeze, "You're old enough to make that decision for yourself."

Emma let out a sigh, "My parents shouldn't leave me. They should be here."

"I'm not trying to replace your mother, Emma," Mrs. Moran looked to her daughter's best friend with a heavy heart, "but I am going to try and make up for everything your parents weren't. You deserved so much better. You are so special."

"I don't feel special," Emma huffed. "New York will still be there in two years. Mom and dad could have waited. Paris would still be around in two years. If I was so special, mom and dad could have waited, right?"

"They should have waited," Mrs. Moran nodded her head, "Joe and I have been waiting for years to take a couple's cruise, but we figure we would wait until Gia was old enough to be on her own before we leave her behind for such a lengthy period of time. We're waiting until she's in college before we go. Having a child is a huge responsibility. Like it or not, your life is put on hold for theirs. Your parents loved you very much, but they never seemed to understand that. You don't come home to your children. They are your life."

"So… mom and dad… what does that make them? What happens to me? Why didn't they want to stay?"

"I don't know," Mrs. Moran shrugged her shoulders. "I've known your parents for a long time, I've known what they were like for years, and this decision still keeps me up at night. I have dreams your parents come home, realize what they've done wrong, and they take you back. You're a happy family again. Then I wake up, I see you and Gia coming down the stairs for breakfast, and my heart breaks for you."

"It does?"

"I love you," Mrs. Moran nodded her head, "I don't know anything about your parents anymore. I don't know what they're going to do, if they're ever coming back, or what. But you always have a home here with us. Long after you graduate high school, this will always be your home."

Mrs. Moran got up and walked over to a stack of boxes. She grabbed the one on top and brought it back to the couch. She set it down and opened it. Emma recognized the crafts, the pictures, and all the art from her childhood. They were activities and things she had done while with the Morans.

"Joe and I," Mrs. Moran started as Emma pulled out artwork after artwork. She rediscovered the macaroni necklace she made in kindergarten, the Christmas card she wrote to Gia and her parents the first year she learned to write. There was even the old blanket Mrs. Moran bought for Emma one week when she had stayed over and accidentally packed her blanket in her parents' suitcase instead of her own. It was amazing Gia's parents had kept all these things over the years. Mrs. Moran continued, "We've always worried about you, Emma. Your parents loved you, but they were never great parents. Since the day you were born I wondered if maybe you would be better off under our roof, with people who actually… well, parents. Joe and I regret not fighting for you sooner. But we're here now. You have a home and a family with us."

"You wanted to take me away?" Emma turned to Mrs. Moran.

"You'd have hated us for sure," she nodded. "Your parents would have been furious. They'd have fought back. But if I could go back in time, to any moment in time, I'd do it. I'd do it in a heartbeat. That's what parents do. They always do what's best for their children."

"Their children? Like… like…"

"I will never try to take your mother's place," Mrs. Moran took Emma's hands. "Joe and I, were here to take care of you. You are our daughter, but we never expect you to see us as your parents. We can be whatever you want us to be. Does that sound fair?"

Emma nodded her head. It was win-win for her. She could still figure out what she wanted from her parents, old and new, but now she knew for sure she wasn't alone anymore. Someone was looking out for her.

Mrs. Moran kissed Emma's forehead, "Go back to bed now. You have that field trip tomorrow. We wouldn't want you sleeping through it."


	71. In The Field

Fortunately, it was a nice day for a field trip. The weather was warm, the sun was shining and the ground was dry. The bus pulled up to a wide open field, just along the edge of a small forest near the city limits and the students stepped out one by one, followed by their science teacher, Mr. Burley.

Mr. Burley had never been a traditional teacher, and he liked to get his students to do as much hands-on work as possible. He would have them do experiments in the classroom or get them out in the field to practice their knowledge for themselves. His fieldtrips were always great because the students could get out of the school for a couple of hours in the day.

Emma and Noah were most excited. They had already paired up for the day and couldn't stop talking to each other about what they could find or discover. Emma knew a lot about plants and Noah loved studying anything he could get his hands on. He liked to see what things were made of and how they worked. If there was something he wanted to know, he would do all he could to figure it out. This assignment had been made for them.

"Imagine discovering something no one's ever seen before," Noah's imagination was getting the best of him. Mr. Burley chose this spot every year because there was an assortment of plants for the students to study. There was very little chance that something new would be found.

"I just think it'll be cool to get a closer look at some of the plants," Emma smiled. "It's like I said, I've never really bothered to look through a microscope before."

"I'll show you how it's done," Noah smirked, "You can point out which of the plants here might be the most interesting to look at."

Emma nodded her head at the plan, and then stepped away from Noah for a moment to talk with Gia. Since kindergarten, Emma and Gia had always chosen each other to be project partners. This was the first time Emma had chosen to be paired with someone other than her best friend. She was doing it because she thought Noah could be a great partner, but also for Gia's sake. She wanted to do everything she could to help her friend heal, and she figured getting Gia to pair up with someone else – like Jake or Troy – could help her with her trust issues. It would push her outside of her comfort zone without scaring her off too much.

As Emma went to talk things over with Gia, and help her figure out who would be the best for her to pair up with, Noah went through the bucket and the tools Mr. Burley handed each team. He wanted to make sure he had everything for their search. Suddenly, he saw a shadow coming closer to him. He looked up and saw Ella. He gave a little groan.

"Hey…"

"Can we be project partners?" she asked with a bright smile. Noah turned over to where Emma and Gia were talking then he shook his head.

"Sorry, I'm with Emma."

"Oh…" Ella's smile slipped right off her face, "Oh… um… that's fine. I just thought… you know… this could be our second date or something…"

"A second date?" Noah didn't remember calling Ella back after the first. He hadn't been interested at all.

"Yeah," Ella pushed around a stone with her foot, "You kind of haven't called me yet, but I know you get really busy with your projects and experiments. I figured we could do this together and maybe you could see I'm a good partner. I can be really, really helpful."

"Oh, well, Ella…"

"I really like you," Ella looked up at Noah with big, soft eyes, "And the date went so well I'd really like to keep trying…"

"I'm… uh," Noah thought he was off the hook after the date, when Ella told him to call her back. He thought it was just a matter of… not calling her back and just pretending the date had never happened. He wasn't interested in dating, and he wasn't interested in her. But it was clear she thought differently. Noah was going to have to set her straight, "Ella, I'm not interested."

"But… but the date went well…"

"I never said that," Noah shook his head, "I clearly remember saying the date was something. That could mean anything."

"So… so then why didn't you say anything?" Ella asked as her eyes started to water. It was clear she was trying to push back her tears, but she was hurting. Noah scratched the back of his neck.

"I just thought…"

"I waited by the phone for you! I told my mom how sweet you were! She… she helped me come up with a way to ask you out again, because when you didn't call me back, she said you might just be too shy."

"Ella…"

"You're such a jerk!" Ella screamed, punched Noah in the chest and stormed off to join her group of friends. By now, the rest of the class was staring at Noah, wondering what he had done to upset Ella so badly.

Jake walked over to Noah, "Dude, I thought things between you and Ella were over. What was that about?"

"I thought they were too. She didn't seem to think so," Noah rolled his eyes. "She told me to call her after the date, I guess to set up another one."

"Did you?"

"No, I wasn't interested. You know that."

"She didn't," Jake shrugged his shoulders, "Dude, you should have told her."

"Really?"

Jake looked over his shoulder. Ella was with her friends, and they were comforting her, likely by telling her how much of a jerk Noah was, and that she was better off without him. Jake turned back to Noah and nodded his head.

"Seems like she really liked you. After the date, all you had to do was say it was fun, but you're not interested."

"It was one date…"

"And now you're a jerk," Jake chuckled. "Don't worry about it. She'll get over it…"

"Hey, Carver," Ella's best friend stomped over and looked ready to kill. Noah grabbed Jake and ducked behind him. Ella's friend rolled her eyes, "I'm not surprised you're such a coward."

"I thought she knew…"

"Moron. Next time, if there is a next time, a girl shows any interest in you at all, try not to be such a douche to her. Ella's a little quirky, but you would have been lucky to have her."

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. Now we all know the truth. Hope you enjoy loneliness, Carver," with that, Ella's friend walked back to join Ella and the rest of the group. Jake couldn't hold back a little laugh as he turned back to Noah.

"Well, looks like you won't be dating any girls for a while."

"As it should be," Noah said, "Still, I do feel kind of bad, though."

"Give her time to cool off, then apologize," Jake said. "Just because you're an idiot, doesn't mean you meant to hurt her."

"Thanks," Noah frowned. Jake chuckled and turned to Mr. Burley as he called for the student's attention.

"Okay, class, everyone find a study buddy to partner up with!" he called out. Emma came over, placing herself next to Noah. Jake looked around. He already knew Noah and Emma were partners, which left Gia wide open. He saw her, standing alone with her bucket on the other side of the group. He knew she had a whole class of students to choose from, but she would be most comfortable with the friends she already had. There was no need to push her too hard and too fast. Before anyone else could ask her, Jake wanted to make his way over and do so. However, Mr. Burley kept talking.

"Alrighty, your assignment today…" Burley was interrupted as Jake bumped his bucket into another student, causing the contents to rattle loudly. Everyone turned to him. He gave Mr. Burley an apologetic look, as if to promise it wouldn't happen again. Mr. Burley continued, "will be to collect interested plant samples…" he was interrupted again as Jake continued to move through the crowd. With his eyes on Gia, Jake couldn't see where he was going and his bucket bumped into another student, causing more noise. The whole glance glanced to him briefly. Mr. Burley seemed irritated.

"Sorry," Jake whispered.

Mr. Burley continued, "So we can bring them back to school…"

Jake tried to bring his bucket closer to his chest so he wouldn't bump it into anyone else, but by doing so he hit it against another kid's bag. Burley continued to speak, but raised his voice and dropped the rake he was holding, "for analysis! Are we clear, Mr. Holling?"

"Crystal," Jake nodded his head.

Mr. Burley waved his hands in the air, "Then away we go! Remember to keep your eyes peeled, or you might miss something important! And stay with your study buddy at all times! No wandering off…"

As Mr. Burley continued to rant on with his safety instructions, as well as his assignment details, Jake looked around the scattering group of students. He had lost Gia through all the interruptions, and was sure that by now Troy or someone else had asked her to pair up. He groaned and shook his head.

"You coming or not?" he heard suddenly and turned around to see Gia waiting for him. She rolled her eyes as he fumbled with his bucket, startled by her seemingly sudden appearance.

"Are we…?"

"Project partners? I'm assuming you weren't playing bumper buckets to ask nose-picker Samuel," Gia pointed over her shoulder to a boy standing by the bus and digging for gold in an unusual place. Jake shook his head.

"Is it cool?"

"Yeah," Gia smiled. She took Jake's bucket from his hand and started off across the field, "Emma's been here a couple of times. She told me a great place to look for some interesting plants. Let's go before the others find it."


	72. Comforting Talks

Emma always loved walks outside and Mr. Burley's field trip was a great excuse to get outside, walk around and enjoy what nature had to offer. As Noah carried the bucket with their supplies for the collection, Emma had her camera on hand. She figured it couldn't hurt her and Noah's assignment to add a few pictures of the plants from which they took samples, and she could keep some for her own collection.

As Noah knelt down, spotting a plant he thought was interesting, Emma held up her camera and snapped a picture. She looked at the preview with a smile, "You look very professional."

"Are you…"

"It's a great picture," Emma showed him, "I hope you don't mind."

"No. You'll have to send these to me later," Noah smiled. He looked up at Emma, "You seem really happy."

"Being outside always cheers me up."

"From what?"

Emma looked down at Noah. He collected the sample and identified the container before getting up to look for something else.

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you need cheering up?"

"Just… a lot's been going on," Emma shrugged her shoulders and took the lead, showing Noah a spot in the field where she had once seen beautiful flowers.

"Our lives are different now," he told her. "Outside of Ranger stuff, I haven't had much time for my experiments. Working on that antidote was really the last project I've completed in a while."

"You don't regret it, do you?" Emma asked him. Noah shook his head.

"Absolutely not. I'm proud of who were are. And being a Ranger means I get to do more than I can imagine. A few months ago, if someone told me I would come up with a medicine that would save the entire city from death, I would have laughed in their faces. What we do is really amazing. Aren't you?"

"I love saving the planet," Emma nodded her head, "but sometimes… it's a lot."

"I guess having to stay in town when your parents want to move is a big deal," Noah sighed. Emma shrugged her shoulders.

"I'd have wanted to stay either way, but it was kind of hard knowing I really had no choice in the matter."

"Have you talked to your parents much? Your birth parents, I mean."

Emma knew what he meant. Noah made his stance somewhat clear in their last conversation. In his eyes, Gia's parents were her parents now. They took care of her, they loved her, and they called her their daughter, like she was their own. For him, the line was very clear. For Emma, even after her talk with Mrs. Moran, it was all still a little hazy. She wasn't sure what was true, or what she wanted to believe. But she knew what Noah meant. She shook her head.

"I write to them every night, but I sent the email to myself. Mom wrote me a postcard but I haven't bothered to read it."

"I wouldn't either, if I were you," Noah said. He sat down in the grass where he was surrounded by beautiful and colourful flowers and he started to collect as many samples as he could, making sure to identify them all so he wouldn't get confused once he was back at school. Emma snapped a few pictures of him and the flowers.

"Why?"

"I think what they've done is unforgivable," Noah looked up at Emma, "Not that I wouldn't support you if you did decide to forgive them. They are your birth parents and it's your life."

"I want to forgive them. But the more time we spend apart, the more it seems the truth is coming out. As it turns out, absence doesn't always make the heart grow fonder."

"What truth is coming out?"

"Gia's parents, and the way they treat me… that's how my parents always should have been with me. I never really noticed before how… deprived I felt. Not having a family, not having someone worry about me, or care for me all the time was just normal. Now, having a curfew is a pain in the butt, and having to answer to parents when I break a rule or worry them is kind of frustrating, especially because I'm a Ranger and can't exactly explain myself… but it feels good. Getting yelled at for worrying Mrs. Moran sick, or hearing how Mr. Moran can't stand my parents anymore because I deserved better sucks but… I l really love it."

"Can I say something that might help?"

"Go for it."

Noah set down his samples. Emma did the same with her camera. The blue Ranger looked right at the pink Ranger, "I was adopted."

"Seriously?"

"My parents, my birth parents, weren't ready to be parents, so they gave me up. Two strangers adopted me, loved me like I was their own son, and did all they could to make sure I was happy and healthy. My whole life, they've always been there for me. So, those are the people I consider to be my parents. The ones who love me and would sacrifice anything for me. The ones who do the hard thing because they know it's best for me in the long run. You agree with me, right?"

"Yeah… yeah, obviously."

"Can I be honest with you?"

Emma looked to Noah curiously, "Uh, okay."

"I'm not actually adopted."

"But you said…"

"You are. You weren't adopted as a baby, but you've finally found a family that'll go above and beyond just because they love you. It doesn't have to be the people who gave birth to you. Your parents are the people who'll love you and who'll always be there for you."

Emma nodded her head and had a tear in her eye. Noah reached out and hugged her.

"It's still hard, and it'll take time, but you do have a family. You have a family at home, and we're all a family. Us Rangers, we're going to stick together no matter what. You're not alone anymore."

"You're really smart."

"Thanks. I hope that makes things a little easier for you. I mean, your parents are who you want them to be, I just want them to be good for you. You deserve it."

"You're also really sweet. Thanks, Noah."

"I like helping people," Noah shrugged his shoulders. He turned back to the plants, "I've got a few interesting samples. I think enough for our assignment. And we've got a little time left so if there's anything else you want to get a closer look at, just show me the way."

Emma nodded her head, and glanced over her shoulder quickly to see if Mr. Burley was looking. The students had an area where they were supposed to stay, but wanted to go a little deeper.

"Come this way."

"Won't we get in trouble?" Noah asked when he saw Emma disappearing into the bush.

"We'll be back for the bus. Mr. Burley won't even know we're gone. It's fine."

"Alright," Noah disappeared into the bushes and he prayed he and Emma wouldn't get caught. The last thing he needed was detention to eat up what was left of his free time.

-Megaforce-

Jake wasn't sure what he was doing, and wished he had paid more attention in class so he could be more help to Gia for the assignment. He held a sample she had collected in his hand and was trying to get a closer look at it while Gia was taking down notes of the plants. Bored, Jake decided he would start a conversation.

"So, Emma's this huge environmentalist, right?"

Gia looked up with a frown, "Noah's that nerdy guy you're always hanging out with, right?"

"I meant, what's with the leather?" Jake asked as he gestured to Gia's jacket. She looked down and then shrugged.

"It's not leather."

"But it's…"

"I used to wear leather. Emma bought me this jacket a couple of years ago for my birthday. It's fake."

"Oh."

"I support her beliefs, but they aren't always my own," Gia said. "We've agreed to compromise. I can eat meat, and make fun of that… food she eats, but if she's making me a meal, I can't expect there to be… food."

"Yeah, that breakfast at her place was… strange."

"The food's okay, but don't tell her I said that," Gia chuckled. "And I've got to try and recycle more, but she's not going to give me a three hour speech if I accidently toss a can in the trash instead of recycling it. That used to get really annoying."

"You two do a lot for each other."

"Her more than me," Gia looked down at the flower, "I always try my best to be the friend she needs, but you know how screwed up I am."

"You're not screwed up," Jake insisted. "C'mon, you're her best friend for a reason."

"Our parents were friends."

"My parents are friends with a lot of people. Doesn't mean I like their kids."

Gia shrugged her shoulders, "Emma's always been a little weird but, she's definitely one of a kind."

"Jordan said you called her the heart once."

"Big mouth can't keep secrets," Gia rolled her eyes. "Emma's sensitive. You saw her reaction to those pranks Michaela pulled. The gravy alone would have been enough to make her cry for a week."

"I also saw how you stood up to Michaela for her. After that prank, I don't think I've ever seen you so pissed off before."

"Like I said, Emma's sensitive. She cares about things people don't care much about. She puts her heart into everything and leaves it wide open for everyone to see. Someone's got to protect it."

"You? Is that why you're always bagging on Jordan. You know he's a good guy, right? He really likes her."

"He dropped her in the dirt. He finds out she's this amazing superhero and he tears her heart in two. Imagine what he's going to do when they get into their next big fight. I know he cares about her, I just need him to fear for his life so that Emma doesn't get hurt. You'd do the same for Noah."

"Well, he'd do the same for me," Jake chuckled. "Noah's not much of a dater. It's probably a good thing, too. He's not very good at letting a girl down easy."

"What does that mean?"

"He never called Ella back. He just assumed, after the date, everything would blow over, like it never happened. She was really into him…"

"She has pictures of him covering her locker door," Gia nodded.

"So you know how crushed she was when she heard Noah never really liked her."

"Poor thing."

Jake nodded his head. He looked down at his bucket with a big smile, "This is nice, Gia."

"Noah crushing Ella's heart?"

"Us talking."

"And not kissing," Gia looked up with a teasing smirk, "Remember, Holling, no sudden movements."

"I know," Jake smiled. "It's just, have you ever admired someone from afar? You think you know them, and then you get close to them and you realize there's so much more to them than meets the eye. They're different from what you expected."

"You're talking about me, aren't you?"

Jake chuckled and nodded his head, "I'll be honest, before this Ranger stuff, before you noticed me, I thought you were some tough bitch. Like… in the good way. You could stand up for yourself; you were strong, independent, and fierce. You didn't need a man."

"Normally, compliments fall out of your mouth. I don't like where this is headed."

"You're still all those things," Jake smiled, "but… softer."

"Great…"

"No, it's a good thing. You, you remember when Mme. Lacroix paired up us for that assignment. I was really happy she paired me up with you."

"You were drooling, I remember."

"I was happy because I already knew you were really special and really amazing, but I never knew why. Now I do and it's these things I learn about you now, through the talks and in these moments that make you really special."

Gia looked up at Jake and saw he was holding out a yellow flower for her. She smiled as she took it. She looked down at it and was about to say something when she and Jake were suddenly grabbed.

"Hey!"

"What's going on?" it was Emma pulling them, dragging them away from their assignment with a sense of urgency. A little ways off, Gia could see Noah was pulling Troy over. He didn't seem as desperate, but there was a bit of a worried look on his face. Gia turned to Emma and pulled her arm free.

"Em, calm down and use your words."

"It's horrible, Gia," Emma grabbed Gia's wrist and pulled her along through the bushes and across the woods until they reached a new clearing. Gia looked out and saw a huge, factory, surrounded by a fence with signs to warn people away from the site because of radioactive chemicals that had been used. The boys caught up and looked on with their jaws on the ground from disgust.

"What is this place?" Jake asked.

"It's the old factory," Noah explained to him. "It was closed down years ago because of too much pollution."

"Your work, I'm guessing," Gia turned to her best friend. Emma nodded her head.

"Me and some friends. But look," Emma started to climb the fence and hopped over to the other side with ease. Gia groaned loudly.

"Not this again," she climbed the fence and helped the boys over as Emma travelled further into the danger space. When all three of the boys were over, Gia turned around and called to Emma, "This space is blocked off for a reason."

"Exactly," Emma called back. "There's a stream coming from in here. Noah and I did a quick test of the water."

"And?" Gia asked.

"The chemicals are still seeping through. Really bad chemicals."

"So we'll talk to the city, like usual," Gia called out, "Come back, Emma…"

"No, follow me!"

"Emma!" Gia groaned as it seemed like Emma was going to ignore her and keep going. She glanced to the boys and rolled her eyes, "The sooner we let her have a look around, the faster we can get home."

"Just don't touch the water," Noah advised and he showed his friends the slight burns on his fingers, "This stuff is really…"

A scream and a splash cut him off. The sound of rocks tumbling and crashing down the hill made Gia and the boys look over. Emma was gone.

"Emma?" Gia called and hurried over to the hill where Emma had been standing moments before. She climbed up, careful to avoid the many streams of polluted water. Noah, Troy, and Jake were right behind her. When they reached the top of the hill they looked around.

"She couldn't have just disappeared," Noah said when he couldn't spot Emma anywhere. Gia looked around.

"Mom and dad are going to kill me," she whispered. She raced down the side of the mountain. There was no point going home, or even back to the bus without Emma. Troy had the same thought.

"We leave together. She couldn't have gone far. Start looking."


	73. What Humans Started

Emma groaned loudly as she came too. She felt a little groggy as she sat up and rubbed her head. She could vaguely remember taking a step, slipping down the side of a hill and falling to she wasn't sure where. Around her were pebbles and dusts. She looked up to see if her way in was her wait out, but the rocks that had tumbled with her blocked the opening.

However, there was light in what seemed to be an underground cave – almost like a mine. Light came from the sun, so Emma was sure there was another way out. She got to her feel, using the wall of the cave as support and started to walk.

Suddenly, she heard a voice and looked down one of the many other tunnels in this cave. She saw two creatures standing around. One was big and rather tall, taller than any monster she had seen before, and he was covered in blue fur. The other… well, there was really no describing him as anything more than a blob with eyes. In any case, neither of them was human. However, they looked nothing like bugs like the other aliens and monsters Emma and the Rangers had faced.

They stood around what appeared to be a bucket that collected water that dripped down from the surface. Remembering where she was, Emma could assume they were gathering the polluted water from the factory. She leaned against the wall, tucking herself away, but peeking around the corner just enough to see what was going on. She cursed herself for leaving her bag on the school bus, like all the other kids, assuming the field trip would be a quick, simple, relaxing couple of hours.

Another dropped dripped down, prompting the blob to say, "Oh, more toxic sludge!"

"It's just another drop in the bucket," the big, fuzzy one groaned and he sounded somewhat annoyed, "Proof that the humans don't care! They turn a blind eye to the mess they created! They just keep making things worst!"

Emma relaxed hearing this. It was exactly her thoughts when she discovered the factory. She had protested that it be shut down due to the massive amounts of pollution it had been expelling into the air and rivers in Harwood County, and city council, realizing she was right, quickly acted to put an end to the factory. However, the end of the factory was only half the battle. It seemed no one had bothered to take a look at how the factory's presence was still affecting its surroundings. All the streams in the area were heavily polluted. So much so, when Noah stuck his hand in the water to collect a sample, he had been slightly burned.

Although, given the monster presence, Emma had to assume that had a little something to do with them. Still, they shared a thought. Humans were making a mess of their planet and no one seemed to care.

"It's time to make them pay!" the blob said, "Let's give them a wake-up call they can't ignore!"

"Yeah, actions speak louder than words!"

"Then action is what we'll take!"

The two monsters were suddenly startled as a bat like-creature flew in, leading the way for Vrak. Emma's eyes widened as she recognized the alien from some of her past battles. He was one of the bigger threats. There was nothing she could do on her own to destroy him. He was smart, he was powerful, and he was merciless. Emma didn't even have her morpher, and while she shared a belief with the two new monsters, she couldn't be sure they would be of any help to her. Gasping, she hid herself completely behind the wall, hoping not to be seen.

"And just who are you?"

Vrak stepped forward, "A friend who thinks the same way you do. We share the same goals."

Hearing this, Emma bit her lip and her heart started to race. Anyone could see what Vrak was trying to do. He wanted to form an alliance.

"My name is Vrak, and soon the humans will discover you too, unless they are stopped. Form an alliance with me, and we can make all earthlings bend to our wills."

"All earthlings?" the big fuzzy monster's voice said, "We're earthlings! All this toxic sludge is what created us! We're the results of years of ignorance from those disgusting, filthy humans!"

Emma gasped again, hearing this, and then covered her mouth with her hand. She hoped no one had heard her, but her wish was unanswered. The wall behind her suddenly shattered, tossing her across the way into the other wall. Rubble rained down on her, and before Emma could get up, she was surrounded by Vrak and the two monsters.

"Seems we've found our first human," the big fuzzy monster said as he grabbed Emma in his large arms. She kicked and screamed and pulled against his arms, trying to free herself, but the bigger creature was stronger. He squeezed her tightly, crushing her until she was too weak to fight back. She found it hard to breathe and soon everything faded to black.

-Megaforce-

"Emma!" Gia cried but it was no use, her friend wouldn't answer. She turned around and made eye contact with each of the boys, but none of them seemed to have found any sign of the pink Ranger.

Suddenly, Mr. Burley stormed over on the other side of the gate and shouted to all the teens, "And what exactly do you all think you're doing?"

"But, Mr. Burley…"

"Back to the bus, all of you!"

"No, please…"

"NOW!"

"Gia," Jake came over and placed his hand on her back to calm her down, "We'll go back to school, finish up the day and then come back here. I don't think we can afford anymore drama or detention."

"But Emma…"

"I saw Mr. Burley walk into a rake, earlier," Jake shrugged his shoulders, "He might not notice. And Emma will be fine."

Gia nodded her head, climbed the fence with the boys, and walked back to the bus with Mr. Burley. She had to hear his lecture about how all students needed to stay with the group but she wasn't listening. She was worried about Emma.

"Please be okay," she whispered as she boarded the bus and headed back to school.

-Megaforce-

Emma's hands were bound tightly behind her back as a monster dragged her across the city, keeping her as his hostage to try and draw out the Rangers. Vrak had recognized Emma, and before he and his two new allies destroyed her, they wanted to make an example of her, to show the humans their time on Earth was ending. As usual, Vrak failed to do the dirty work himself, and he and his new allies had enlisted the help of this monster. By now, Emma was sure Gosei had alerted the Rangers of trouble, but she wasn't sure how long it would take them to arrive to the city.

"This will be a good spot," the monster held Emma close, using her body as a shield so no one could get near him without hurting her. Dragging her across the city got a lot of attention from the other humans. People had gathered to watch worriedly and the police surrounded the area quickly with their cars and pulled out their guns. No one would shoot. No one would try anything. The monster already knew his skin was strong enough to stop the bullets, and no one wanted to risk hurting Emma. As far as they were concerned, she was just a teenage girl.

The monster in the city, with a human hostage, prompted the officers who weren't surrounding the monsters to keep as many people safe as possible. Stores, businesses, and restaurants had been closed up after taking in as many people as possible. Workers, customers, and the lucky few who got to flee or who weren't brave enough to stand in the streets during a monster attack were not to leave the buildings until everything was cleared. At his building a couple of streets over, Mr. Moran watched on the news. He had tried to leave, telling the security guards at the door that it was his daughter the monster was holding, but no one would believe him. Everyone in his building knew about Gia. Mr. Moran was very proud of her. No one yet knew of Emma.

Mrs. Moran was lucky enough to be at home. She had made the decision to quit her job when she and her husband came to the conclusion that both girls needed a full time parent dedicated to them. Since Mr. Moran made a lot more money, the logical choice was for Mrs. Moran to stay at home. There was no lock-down in her house, and as soon as she saw Emma on the news, she rushed through the city, hoping she could be of some help.

Emma struggled in the monster's arms, hoping she could get herself free to run, but like most of the other monsters she had faced, his size gave him extra strength, and he could hold her smaller body with ease even with all the struggling. Seeing the monster had the attention of the city, he looked around to all the people, smirking in a way that made most feel very uncomfortable.

"Listen up humans!" he cried out and held Emma a little tighter, making her whimper so the rest of the city could see he was trouble, "Your species has had its day! My toxic venom will annihilate all of you! Starting with this one!"

"Let the girl go, or we will open fire!" the chief of police called out into a microphone. Emma turned to him, knowing his trying to reason with the monster was futile.

"No you won't!" Mrs. Moran made it to the front of the line, smacked a gun from a nearby officer's hand and glared at the chief of police, "You'll hit my daughter!"

"Why couldn't the moment be less life-threatening," Emma muttered to herself as she heard Mrs. Moran's words and knew Noah was right. Gia's parents were like parents to her, and they seemed to care for her a lot more than her birth parents. A tear dripped down Emma's cheek before she heard laughter from behind her, and turned to see the blob monster and the fuzzy monster appear from mid-air.

"You think you can stop us?" the fuzzy monster laughed.

"Us mutants are unstoppable!" the blob continued. "You humans closed down that toxic factory, but never cleaned up the chemicals! You had the chance to take care of that toxic mess for years, but no human ever lifted a finger to make things right. Now, it's our time! We're going to take you humans out and create our own toxic wasteland from this planet! You brought this upon yourselves."

There were whispers and murmurs among the crowd as people tried to process what they were being told. Emma already knew. She had heard the monsters speaking in their underground hideout. Human pollution had created the two monsters standing behind her. However, until Vrak turned up, the two monsters knew they were outnumbered and so they could never do anything to the world. They were cast aside, and forced to hide away and create a small, dark, damp world of their own while humans thrived in a world they were also destroying. Jealousy fueled these monsters as they craved a life where they could thrive and life in a world that suited their need. They wanted a life like the humans, on a planet to call their own.

The humans had everything they desired, but instead of cherishing the land that provided them with everything they needed, from the very basics of human survival to all their luxuries and commodities, they were destroying it. They were, essentially, harming themselves. The monsters were simply here to speed up what humans were already doing.

The chief of police glared at the three monsters. He knew Mrs. Moran was right. If he told his men to open fire, they were going to hit the girl. Fortunately, no decision needed to be made as the Rangers turned up, pushing their way to the front of the crowd and stepping beyond the police safety lines.

Mrs. Moran watched as the Rangers stood before the city and hoped there was something they could do to get Emma away from the snake like creature unharmed.

"Let her go, creep," yellow growled and it sounded like she spoke through clenched teeth and in anger. Mrs. Moran could tell she was very tense, and assumed the Rangers were just as worried as the rest of the city about a civilian, a young girl, being at a monster's mercy.

"What the hell is that thing?" the black Ranger asked as he pointed to the blob like creature, "You're funny looking… ow!"

The yellow Ranger smacked him on the back of the head and seemed to give him a glare. He bowed his head, "Sorry… I'll focus."

"Rangers! Finally!" the snake monster smiled, "Now that you're here, everyone can witness the beginning of their own destruction. Watch, as your years of ignorance and self-interest destroy your species!"

He threw Emma to the ground and towered over her. He opened his mouth and a green, goo-like liquid started to pour out, "I'll cover you in the same toxic waste you and the rest of the humans dump out into your precious world every day!"

Emma had enough sense to roll out of the way quickly and before the monster could spit. His green goo hit the concrete where she had been lying seconds before.

Mrs. Moran watched, and nearly had a heart attack, but was glad to see Emma roll out of the way quickly. However, she knew this game of cat and mouse would only last so long as the monster tried to spit again, and Emma rolled out of the way, just barely making it out unharmed. She couldn't just stand by and watch.

"Guys, now!" the red Ranger shouted as they charged towards the monsters, but with three of the creatures and only four Rangers, Mrs. Moran knew there would be trouble. It was essentially a one on one battle, with the boys going after one monster each, and the yellow Ranger rushing to help Emma to her feet. Mrs. Moran grabbed the arm of the chief of police and squeezed tightly as she watched.

Then she heard a whisper, "Where's pink?"

As the question spread through the crowd, theories came up. Maybe there was an attack somewhere else. Maybe something had already happened. Mrs. Moran didn't care as she kept her eyes on Emma and hoped the yellow Ranger could bring her daughter back.

It started by untying the ropes that bound Emma's hands together. The blue Ranger kept the snake monster distracted, buying them some time. Mrs. Moran assumed the yellow Ranger wanted Emma to run to safety for herself so she could help her teammates. But once the ropes fell away from Emma's wrist, the yellow Ranger didn't tell her to run. It was hard to tell with the helmet on, but it looked like she was checking up on her. Then Emma threw her arms around the yellow Ranger and seemed to whisper something in her ear. To anyone else watching, it just seemed as though Emma was thanking the yellow Ranger for saving her, but Mrs. Moran saw something different. Emma knew the yellow Ranger.

She knew the yellow Ranger. Her heart stopped. She felt sick to her stomach. The yellow Ranger walked Emma to a bench, still within the battle zone, but away from where the monsters were currently attacking the Rangers. The way they touched, the way they moved…

Mrs. Moran knew.

"Where's the snake?" someone called and Mrs. Moran turned to see the blue Ranger looking around in confusion. The monster he had been facing was nowhere in sight. She turned back to Emma and the yellow Ranger, fearing the worst and seeing it was happening. Somehow, the snake made his way over to them in seconds flat.

"Time to finish what you humans started!" he cried.

Gia turned around, hearing the monster's voice was near and saw he was right behind her. He was ready to spit. She was morphed. Her suit would offer her protection Emma didn't have. She grabbed Emma in her arms, shielding her as much as she could while trying to jump out of the way. The girls hit the concrete and a couple splatters of goo touched Gia's suit. As she suspected, she was protected by her Ranger powers.

Her mother, however, wasn't, and had taken the brunt of the attack.


	74. The Robot Ranger

The attacks were relentless. The monster didn't care who he squirted and laughed as he watched Mrs. Moran drop to the ground unconscious. He opened his mouth once more, blasting the yellow Ranger and Emma with another round of goop. Gia grabbed Emma and pulled her away, shielding her once more and coating herself in the goo. Her suit continued to protect her, but she could feel the effects of the slime pulling the energy from her body, making her feel weaker.

"Gia…" Emma whispered. Gia pulled herself off her friend, helped her up to her feet, and then with Emma's help they lifted Mrs. Moran. Gia put her mother in Emma's arms.

"Please," she begged and Emma nodded her head. The boys gathered around Gia, creating a wall between Emma and the other civilians, and the monsters. Another round of goo was shot their way.

"These humans are weak!" the snake monster cried out in amusement as he watched the Rangers fall to the ground. The big, fuzzy monster shook his head.

"They aren't weak; we're stronger! Years of pollution have given us more strength."

Emma dragged Mrs. Moran back to the police line, where several paramedics came to look her over. They took Mrs. Moran away, but one stayed behind to try and talk with Emma. Emma shook her head, ignoring all the questions as she turned around and watched the Rangers battle. She hated sitting on the sidelines and wishes she had some way of getting her morpher and joining without raising suspicion in the crowd about who she was. The battle seemed to be a losing battle, and looked to get worse as the blob fired a large ball of energy to the Rangers. It knocked them down, and they looked like they couldn't get up.

"Emma!" she heard someone call her name from behind her and turned around. Somehow Jordan had gotten away from school and made it over. He knew her wishes were that he stayed as far away from the battles as possible, that he pretended everything was normal between them, but when he saw the monsters had Emma, not the pink Ranger, captive, he couldn't keep his promise. He needed to come for her, to make sure she was okay. He took her in his arms and held her close, so glad to see she had gotten out of trouble. Emma returned the gesture, but she was still distracted by the battle. Her friends were in trouble, and there was nothing she could do to help.

Until Jordan took his bag off his back and reached inside. He had her morpher with him. He discreetly passed it over to her.

"We can deal with the mess later," he whispered to her. "The others are in a lot of trouble. These guys look tough."

Emma nodded her head, but just as she was about to morph, a ball of light descended from the sky. It landed a little ways away from the battle, causing the ground to tremble and it filled the streets with smoke. As the smoke began to clear a figure stepped out.

Emma stared. It looked like a Ranger. It looked human, but as it walked, she could hear the mechanical sounds. She turned to Jordan. He touched his forehead.

"That… that thingy," he then pointed to Emma's morpher, "He's got that tiki-headed face on his forehead too."

"Would that mean…?"

"Stand down, mutants," the Ranger's voice was clearly robotic, confirming Emma's suspicions that this new Ranger was possibly not a human, but a robot, and it seemed he was on their side. The robot Ranger continued, "You will only get one warning. I am Robo-Knight, protector of the environment; guardian of the Earth. You use noxious elements to hurt the Earth," Robo-Knight lifted up a blaster and fired at the snake monster. "Environmental threats must be stopped."

He blasted at the snake, taking that monster down and out before turning his blaster to the other two monsters. A couple of blasts forced them to retreat before they suffered the same fate as their monster.

"It's going to grow," Emma said to Jordan and tugged on his arm to pull him away. She knew what would happen next. All destroyed monsters came back for a second round as large, towering creatures. However, the Rangers were still down, suffering the effects of the monster's toxic goo. They weren't ready for a Megazord battle, and Emma couldn't do it alone. She would try, but she already knew it was going to be tough. She held out her morpher, ready for battle for a second time, but then saw something incredible. Robo-Knight, the man sized Ranger, transformed into a large Zord, big enough to take on the snake while the city ran for cover. Jordan pulled Emma away, knowing she would want to stay and watch, but unless she was morphed, he wouldn't risk anything happening to her from the battle. He pulled her down and alley way, ducking away from the battle, but not going too far, knowing she would want to check up on her friends and see who the new Ranger was once the danger was gone.

In the meantime he took a seat on the ground and pulled Emma into his arms, "You scared the shit out of me."

"I need to go out there…"

Jordan looked up to the skies. The buildings blocked his view, but he was sure the robot Ranger could take down the monster on his own. He shook his head and hugged Emma a little closer.

"It sounds like the right person's winning. Emma, talk to me, what happened?"

Emma turned to Jordan. There was fear in her eyes. She continued to look up at the sky, but told him the story. How she found the factory, wanted to do a little digging to see just how much damage the waste had caused when she fell. She told him of the monsters, how they had been created by human pollution and how they wanted to turn the earth into a planet for themselves. She explained to him Vrak's presence, how the aliens had formed an alliance with the mutants. Jordan held Emma. His stomach was in knots as he listened. He was terrified anytime he knew the pink Ranger was in danger, but through her whole story, Emma had been nothing more than Emma. Anything could have happened to her.

"It's fine now…"

"No, it's not," Emma shook her head, "Mrs. Moran she… she…"

"The ambulance took her away. They'll take care of her."

Emma clenched her fists tightly. Mrs. Moran risked her life to protect her. Mrs. Moran was hurt trying to save her.

"It's okay…" Jordan whispered as he continued to hold her. "It's going to be okay."

He looked up at the sky and saw it was clear. He gave Emma a gentle squeeze before letting her go. She morphed, raced out of the alley, and joined the other Rangers as they pushed themselves to their feet and stared at their new Ranger.

Robo-Knight stood before them, examining them. Emma stepped forward.

"Who are you?"

Robo-Knight stared at her, then the other Rangers, before he turned around and walked away. The boys turned to each other as they powered down, and looked curiously at one another.

"We should talk to Gosei," Troy said, "He'll know what's going on. He'll know who that was."

"And maybe he'll be able to tell us something about those new monsters," Noah added. "They looked different. There's something new about them."

"Gosei?" Gia powered down and glared at Troy and Noah, "You think Gosei's going to know what's going on? You think he's going to have any answers? What the hell has he done for us so far?"

"Gia…" Jake touched her arm hoping to calm her down, but she pushed him away and turned around.

"He's useless! He waits until the last minute to give us cards, forces us to find our own way out of trouble. Noah had to come up with that antidote to save everyone!"

"Gosei gave us all these powers. He's got to know something…"

"Screw you, Troy," Gia shoved him, "Now there's a robot Ranger. He summoned us, begged us to help, to put our lives on hold, and there's been a robot Ranger all along."

"There's got to be a reasonable explanation for this…"

"With all those cards and robots he's pulling out of his ass, he's probably hiding something else from us!" Gia screamed at Troy, "He's probably hiding a save the world card up his sleeve, waiting until we take enough of a beating before he decides we've earned it!"

"Gia…"

"Leave me alone!" Gia screamed before she stormed off and passed Jordan as she left. She slapped her morpher into his chest, "Here. I hope you like yellow."

"Go talk to Gosei," Emma whispered to the boys. "I'll go after Gia."

"We'll get answers," Troy promised her as he and the boys left. Emma turned around to look at Jordan. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Yellow's not really my colour," he put Gia's morpher in her hand. "I'll check your place. You got to the hospital. I've got a feeling Gia's going to be in one of those two places."

"Let's hope," Emma nodded.


	75. All The Lies

Troy never wanted to say die, but even he had to admit, the last battle had been rough. Fighting three monsters at one had been more of a challenge than any of the Rangers were ready for, especially with Emma unable to morph. In fact, the only reason they had make it out alive was because of the newest addition to their team.

Or so they hoped he… it… was a new addition. A robotic Ranger had appeared, kicked ass, and then walked off. He seemed to be aligned with the Rangers. He wore the same symbol on his forehead that Gosei had one the top of his head, and printed on all the Ranger devices, so there was some connection. The boys hoped that meant Gosei would have answers for them.

They teleported to the base and they saw Tensou racing around in excitement. He was crying out about the new Ranger and seemed to be behaving like he had no idea Robo-Knight existed before today.

"So, this sixth Ranger Tensou's talking about," Troy said, interrupting Tensou's cheer, "What's up?"

"How long has he been around for?" Jake added, "And why haven't we seen or heard about him before today? It kind of would have been nice to have a little extra help on the battle field."

"I didn't tell you, because he had been dormant until today," Gosei replied. "I created him centuries ago with the sole mission to protect the Earth's environment. I knew that someday, the Earth might need a powerful protector like Robo-Knight."

"So then what the hell are we?" Jake asked. Gia's screams to Troy on the battle field had been a little out of line, mostly because Troy had as much information as she did about the new Ranger, but she had raised a few good questions that Jake couldn't get out of his head. If Gosei could create robotic Rangers, who had no feelings, no lives, no families to worry about, why wouldn't he just create a team of five or six Robo-Knights instead of recruiting and endangering five teenagers. "Are we just monster bait until you could get your precious Robo-Knight up and running?"

"Robo-Knight is…"

"Emma was kidnapped. Gia and Noah have been poisoned. I've got bruises I can't explain to my parents, and I think we've all lied to people we care about," Jake growled. "Why put us through that if you had some powerful robot standing by."

"As I said, Robo-Knight has been dormant…"

"So he suddenly wakes up now?" Jake asked. Troy grabbed his arm and pulled him back in line. He wanted answers to Jake's questions too, but there was no need to lose his temper over it. Gosei deserved a chance to explain.

"The Earth has awakened him," Gosei said, "I cannot say I didn't have a hand in his revival, but he was not mine to summon at command."

"So why wake him up now?" Troy asked. "I mean, he saved our butts, but there have been other times we could have used him."

"Or studied him," Noah muttered. Jake and Troy both turned to him. He shrugged nervously, "I can't turn my geek off. Robo-Knight is pretty awesome…"

"Robo-Knight is strong where humans are weak," Gosei explained, "He will not fall ill or succumb to monsters' spells. His sole purpose is to defend the Earth and will therefore no have the same distractions you do…"

"So you've just traded us in for a newer model? Should we just hand these in?" Jake held his morpher, "I think Gia already has…"

"Rangers, you misunderstand. Robo-Knight is strong where you are weak, but you possess strengths that are impossible to duplicate in a robot."

Noah fixed his glasses and nodded his head, "Robo-Knight was pretty cold to Emma after the battle. I guess teamwork is a little lost on a machine."

"Teamwork, empathy, passion. I believe Robo-Knight will strengthen the team. I have no intention of replacing the five of you."

"But Robo-Knight doesn't seem interested in joining our team," Noah pointed out. "I mean, it's great he'll help us defeat the monsters, but having a sixth Ranger that's outside of us is going to feel very… cold."

"We want to be one unit," Troy nodded his head. "We are a team, and all members need to learn to work together, robotic or not."

"Robo-Knight is capable of learning. It is up to you to teach him how to be a valuable member of the team."

"You don't just have a card for that?" Jake asked, "Gia was right, you seem to just be pulling those out of your ass…"

"Everything I do, I do to help you," Gosei said. "My methods may seem strange, but I know what I'm doing."

"You might want to fill us in one day," Jake shrugged his shoulders, "Emma, not the pink Ranger, got herself in a lot of trouble in that last battle, which is fine for us, because we know what our risks are, but…"

"Mrs. Moran took a hit to protect her, and Gia without knowing it," Troy said. He looked to Gosei, "We're doing our best to keep our identities secret, but I don't think any of our parents are stupid. What if they find out? What if this happens again and someone else gets hurts? We're risking everything to do this for you, Gosei. None of us asked to be Rangers. Jake's right, it would be nice, if one day, you did something for us."

Gosei's eyes dimmed and there was no response from him. Troy turned to Tensou who, as soon as he felt Troy's gaze fall upon him, hurried off to another room. Troy turned to Noah and Jake and sighed.

"He must know what he's doing," he said. "We've got to trust he's doing all this for a reason."

"Or he's insane," Jake shrugged his shoulders. "It could be either."

-Megaforce-

Gia sat in the park outside the hospital. No one would let her in to see her mother yet. Because everyone knew she had been hit by a monster's mysterious goo, they were still performing tests on her, and it would be a while before they allowed any visitors just because they weren't exactly sure what they were dealing with. Gia wasn't even sure her mother was still alive. She had felt the effects of the goo through her Ranger suit. She knew it was bad news. Her mother had taken the full brunt of an attack completely unprotected.

Her father was already in the hospital, likely screaming at a nurse for keeping him away from his wife. He was so distraught; he hadn't noticed Gia had snuck off.

She couldn't stay in the hospital – not without her mother, not when her father was so angry, and not without her friends beside her. Maybe Jake was on to something with his fear. The hospital was never a good place to be. So instead, she waited in the park, and hoped her friends would find her soon. She chose the park because she knew Jake wouldn't come inside, and for a reason she couldn't explain, she really wanted him near. He had a way of making her feel better, no matter how down she was.

Two arms suddenly grabbed her, squeezing her tight, but not in a threatening way. They were Emma's arms, and the grab was Emma trying to hug her.

"I'm so sorry," Emma sat down beside Gia and held her best friend, "I never… your mom…"

"It's fine."

"No it's not," Emma shook her head, "Gia, please. I know it's got to be weird having to share your parents with me…"

"That's how it's always been," Gia turned to Emma, "There's really nothing new there. You're in my family's photo album more than some of my uncle's wives… or even my uncle."

"I don't want you to lose your mother because of me," Emma whispered. "I… Gia, I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be sorry yet," Gia shook her head, "Not until something's happened to her. That Robo-whatever defeated the monster, so maybe his poison will wear off just like all the others."

"You don't really think that, do you?" Emma asked only because she could tell that wasn't what Gia believed. If her mother was fine, the hospital would have let her go by now. "Gia, I feel so bad."

"Mom would have done the same for me…"

"But you're her daughter. That what mothers are supposed to do!" Emma said before pulling away from Gia and looking down at her hands nervously, "I'm… I'm honestly confused about what I am."

"My best friend. Practically my sister," Gia said. "My parents love you. You've pretty much been a part of our family since you were born. No one blames you for this."

"I should have left that factory alone," Emma sighed loudly. "If I hadn't of gone off…"

"They would have found someone else, or done something else. Those monsters are monsters. That's just… that's it, Em. You have nothing to apologize for, and no reason to feel bad. I was morphed. _I_ should have done something."

"Gia…"

"I'm just the yellow Ranger," Gia shook her head, "Mom… there's no way mom was trying to save me. She was protecting you. She knew what she was doing so that's… that's on her. What she did for you is her fault."

"She'd have taken that hit for you if she knew," Emma wrapped her arm around her best friend. Gia shook her head.

"She doesn't know I'm a Ranger, though. She should have been protecting you and I should have been protecting both of you. It's my fault she's hurt or dead and… there's no way I can ever…"

"Gia, it's going to be okay."

"It's too much," Gia shook her head. "I can't handle any of this, Emma. Everyone keeps telling me I need to open up. Mom and dad always say I can talk to them about anything. They say they can only help me if I'm honest with them… but I can't do that. If I tell them, I'm just putting them in danger. But if I keep it all inside and lie constantly to them, at school, to everyone… I feel like I… like I can't do it. I'm going to blow or go insane, or lose my head. Someone's going to get hurt because of me, or I'm going to get hurt and… I don't know if I can do it. Just… just let the robot take care of everything."

"Girls!" Troy called as he and the boys looked around the hospital grounds. Jordan was with them, so Emma could assume they had checked the house first before coming here.

When Jake saw Gia curled up on a bench, and when he noticed she was crying, he couldn't stop himself. All he wanted to do was make her feel better. He ran over, faster than the others, and took a seat beside her. Gia tended to turn to Emma when she was scared, so all he did was put a hand on her back so she knew he was there if she needed him.

This time, Gia turned to him and nestled up against his chest. Jake was a little surprised, but he wrapped his arms around her, held her close, hid her away, and told her everything would be okay. Then he looked up at Emma. She shrugged her shoulders.

"No news."

Jake nodded his head and hugged Gia tightly. Emma stood up. She leaned into Jordan, taking comfort in his arms while turning to Troy, "Gosei…"

"Robo-Knight's an addition. He's not replacing us, so that's good."

"Is it?" Emma asked and glanced to Gia momentarily. "Being a Ranger is… hard."

"We'll figure it out," Troy promised her. "We'll use him to make us stronger. And extra hand should make the load a little easier."

"Not enough," Emma sighed and shook her head, "We still have to lie."

Troy bit his lip then sighed. He knew what she meant. His parents gave him enough space, but he had had to lie to them about his bruises and his whereabouts when they discovered he was out late or not where he said he would be. It was hard, and it sucked.


	76. Every Parent's Nightmare

Mr. Moran sent the girls to school the following morning while they continued to wait on news about Mrs. Moran. She was awake, but the doctors were running many tests. The goo that had hurt her was unknown to man, and so the doctors wanted to learn as much about it as they could so they could deliver the best treatment possible. Unfortunately, with such a mysterious substance affecting Mrs. Moran, there was no telling what her condition was like. All Mr. Moran told the girls was that their mother was awake and being taken care of, and that he would call them at school if anything changed – good or bad.

For now, he sat in a chair by his wife's bed, holding her hand and watching the news with her. She insisted on watching footage of the Rangers. They were fairly new to Harwood County, and had saved the city so many times; it was easy to find something on them on almost any news station, at nearly any time of the day. People were fascinated by these masked superheroes and wanted to stay up to date with every sighting, every battle, and every move the Rangers made. No one had any idea who they were, except for Mrs. Moran. She watched footage of the Rangers, chronicling their sightings from the first until the most recent.

She couldn't believe she hadn't seen it before. The yellow Ranger's moves, her body language, the way she stuck so closely to the pink Ranger, it was Gia. Her daughter, her baby girl, was the yellow Ranger.

And the pink Ranger, she was Emma. Now that Mrs. Moran knew, it was so obvious. The girls were always missing when there was a battle, and if they weren't, their respective Ranger wasn't on the battle field. When Gia had been in the hospital, after Mrs. Moran found out about Cliff, the yellow Ranger missed out an entire monster attack. After Gia was discharged, she was spotted again.

Then the day before, when the monster held Emma, four Rangers showed up to help. Pink was nowhere to be seen, and reporters had stated that Pink hadn't been anywhere else in the city. Mrs. Moran watched as Emma got herself away from the monsters and then so easily put her trust in the yellow Ranger who came to help.

Suddenly, the TV was turned off. Mrs. Moran turned to her husband.

"We don't need to watch that again," he said. "It was bad enough the first time."

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Mrs. Moran offered him a comforting smile.

"I'm going to be okay. I can feel it."

"That can't erase how terrified I was," Mr. Moran said. "One minute, those freaks are threatening Emma, then just when I think she's safe, you jump right into the middle of that fight."

"You'd have done the same, Joe."

"I'd protect Emma," Mr. Moran nodded his head, "but the yellow Ranger was with her. She tried to protect her. We could all see that. She would have taken that hit, and the suit…"

Mrs. Moran grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. The news was showing footage from the recent battle and going on and on about the new robot that had saved the day. In the background, Mrs. Moran could see the Ranger were hurt, coated in the same goo that landed her in the hospital. Given she was the only one looked after by doctors, Mrs. Moran assumed her husband was right, and the suits did protect them for the most part, but there had been pain.

"It would have hurt her too."

Mr. Moran shook his head, "Vanessa, she's a Power Ranger…"

"She's someone's daughter, Joe," Mrs. Moran said, "I regret nothing. I'd do it again."

"The girls need you," Mr. Moran squeezed his wife's hand and looked her in the eyes, "The girls need both of us. Emma's lost one set of parents already, and Gia… who knows what's going on with her anymore. What you did was brave, but it was stupid. Let the yellow Ranger take the hit…"

Mrs. Moran shook her head, "She's our daughter, Joe."

"I don't care whose daughter she is, Vanessa! she's a Power Ranger so she's supposed to…"

"She's _our_ daughter, Joe," Mrs. Moran pointed to the TV, "Emma's pink, Gia's yellow. Just have a look for five minutes. There's no doubt."

The footage of the Rangers played again from the beginning and Mr. Moran watched with a lump in his throat. He couldn't believe his wife, but she was not one to lie. Mrs. Moran squeezed her hand.

"We can't let them know we know. They're good girls. If they're keeping this from us, there's got to be a reason."

Mr. Moran kept his eyes on the TV and slowly shook his head back and forth. The Ranger girls, they were his girls. He tried, through the length of the news report, to deny it, but he couldn't. When the reel played over again he turned to his wife. She sighed.

"I don't know how we're going to do it, Joe, but we've got to… there's nothing we can do about it. We've just got to support them. Somehow."

"We'll do all we can," Mr. Moran clenched his fists tightly before he turned off the TV. He kissed his wife's forehead and told her to rest and that when she woke up, the girls would be out of school and here to keep her company. When she closed her eyes, Mr. Moran stepped out of the room.

This was a nightmare.


	77. Going Green

Emma had been expecting a busy day at school. She had only just been publicly taken by a monster the day before and news travelled quickly. She knew people would ask her if she was okay, what the monsters were like, and she knew they would have questions for her about the Rangers. She had been saved by them, and everyone had seen she had gotten up close and personal to the yellow Ranger. However, she wasn't expecting what she was seeing. As she arrived at school, she saw kids walking around the grounds and on the fields, picking up litter, fixing up the school, replacing garbage bins with recycling containers, and there were even some students planting a garden. Inside was really no different. All the garbage bins had been replaced with recycling centers; the custodian was changing the lights so they were more energy efficient. Students were washing away the graffiti on the walls and lockers, and were using chemical free cleaners to do so.

In other words, they were cleaning up. Not only was the school trying hard to look good, but they were trying to be good to the environment. Emma turned to Gia, knowing her best friend had no idea what was going on, but at the same time hoping for an answer.

Jordan, seeing his girlfriend had finally arrived, rushed over to greet her with a hug. He knew she was okay, but after the day he had had, he couldn't stop himself from worrying. The pink Ranger in danger was enough to make him fear for Emma, but having Emma, unmorphed and in trouble gave him nightmares of what could have happened. He hugged her tight. Emma returned the gesture then looked up at him.

"What's with the clean-up?"

"Haven't you noticed?" Jordan asked, "It's happening all over the city. The monsters yesterday went on and on about how bad pollution was, how it made them stronger, and how twisted we were for destroying the Earth we need to live off of. I guess hearing monsters give us a speech about how bad pollution was really kicked some sense into everyone. The school's cleaning up, and on the way here, I heard on the news that the city is going to pass a bunch of new green laws."

"Green laws? Like environment friendly laws?"

"Maybe a little more goop hit you than we thought," Gia smiled and wrapped her arm around her best friend. "I'll go see what I can do to help."

"From now on," Jordan continued to explain to Emma, "any paper used at this school is going to be recycled. Teachers are going to be encouraged to print less, students can submit their papers electronically, or print on both sides of the same paper."

"I've suggested all these things," Emma looked up at Jordan in shock, "The principal laughed in my face."

"Well, Ms. Chesterfield got a look at your suggestions, and after what happened yesterday, she really thinks these are not only possible, but amazing ideas. She's sending emails to all the other schools to do the same, and apparently she's crediting everything to you. Speaking of, she would like to see you. Room 128."

"Oh… uh, okay," Emma nodded her head. Jordan gave her a kiss and then let her go, while he went back to his work cleaning up the lockers. Emma made her way down the hall until she reached room 128 and saw Ms. Chesterfield inside. She knocked on the door and waited to be invited before she stepped in. Ms. Chesterfield pointed to the seat on the other side of the desk.

Since Gia confessed about what happened the night of the party between her, Mick, and Alex, they had been on probation. Ms. Chesterfield refused to let them out of school, but knew she couldn't have the two boys roaming the halls freely, so allowed them to work independently on their assignments in her office while they were monitored all day by two police officers. It worked to keep them caught up with the studies and to teach them a lesson about proper behaviour, but it meant that, for the most part, Ms. Chesterfield had no office space for the rest of the year. When she needed to have meetings with students, she had to find empty classrooms so they could talk privately.

"Miss Goodall, how are you feeling?" Ms. Chesterfield asked as Emma sat down. She saw this coming. She and Gia had both seen the monster attack on the news and it was clear as day that the girl the monster held hostage was her. Emma had prepared herself to be asked how she was doing by teachers and students alike for the rest of the day.

"I'm fine," she answered. Ms. Chesterfield had no idea, but the kidnapping hadn't been any more terrifying than the other times she had come face to face with a monster. This wasn't the first time her life had been in danger, and it wouldn't be the last.

"If you ever need to talk…"

"I'm kind of ready to put it all behind me, actually," Emma shrugged her shoulders.

Ms. Chesterfield nodded, "In any case, my door is always open, and I'll be able to provide you with anything you need should this all become a little overwhelming. You have been through quite a bite lately, what with Gia…"

"Can we not talk about Gia?" Emma said, "This has nothing to do with her."

"Right," Chesterfield nodded and then reached into her bag and pulled out her laptop. She turned it on then showed Emma the email she had been sending around to the other schools, just like Jordan had said she was doing. "Your ideas to save the planet are amazing, Emma. I'm just horrified it took something so shocking before your voice was really heard."

"I've been heard before," Emma shrugged her shoulders and then peeked out the window where she could see some students gardening, "Not like this, though."

"Well, I'm not one to side with monsters, especially ones that put my students in such danger, but they had a point. We've slowly been destroying our planet, and unless we do something about it now, I don't see things getting any better. In the grand scheme of things, we're just one school, but one spark can ignite a fire. I would love to set the example for people everywhere about how easy it is to be green."

"It's a lot of change," Emma said, "I normally try to get people to do little things…"

"You heard those monsters better than I did. We created them. We give them power. We've only seen three of them, plus those alien bugs. Who knows how many more mutants there are out there, feeding off our garbage. The only way to stop them is if we make big changes to our lifestyle now. And you're exactly the right person to lead this charge."

"I… I am?"

Ms. Chesterfield nodded, "I've still got a whole list of your ideas I need to start implementing around the school, but if there's anything else we can do, or anything else you can think of that will make our school all the the more energy-efficient, without costing our students their education, I would love to hear it."

"I'll think about it."

"And of course, all credit for this will go to you," Ms. Chesterfield smiled, "Now, hurry up and get to class."

Emma nodded her head, grabbed her bag, and stepped out of the classroom. She looked over her shoulder, unsure of what she had just heard. She was sure it was good. She knew she was being heard, but it wasn't a feeling she was used to. From time to time people did say yes to her ideas, and gave her the floor when she needed to speak, but it was never like this. No one had ever taken her and her ideas this seriously before.

"What did she say?" Emma bumped into Gia just as she walked out of the room. She looked up at her best friend and shrugged.

"I'm still figuring that out," Emma said. "She asked me if I was okay, and then started talking about all my suggestions to the school."

"I heard students talking about starting a gardening club, and maybe convincing the school to get a gardening class in the curriculum. Other kids want to know more about what happens to the garbage we throw away that doesn't get recycled. One kid even suggested the school rent out bikes for students who live further away so they don't _have_ to take the bus. Everywhere I go, everyone I hear, they sound exactly like you."

Emma looked up at Gia with a little laugh, "And that's a bad thing?"

"It's a little annoying," Gia smirked. Then she held up her phone, "By the way, dad just messaged me."

"Is your mom okay?"

Gia nodded her head then showed Emma the message. The pink Ranger read it over twice.

"I love you girls. Stay safe, work hard. I'm so proud of you? Are you sure your mom's okay?"

"I called after he sent the message," Gia answered. "He said she was fine, he just wanted us to know how much he loves us."

"Why?"

"Maybe what happened yesterday scared him," Gia shrugged. "From his eyes, things did look pretty bad."

"It's still weird," Emma said. Gia chuckled.

"So are parents. You'll get used to it."

Emma nodded her head, "Yeah. It's a good kind of weird, I guess."

"C'mon. The boys signed us up for recycling duty. The sooner we get all this trash sorted, the sooner I'll stop hearing your voice in every single person."

"I'm not _that_ annoying," Emma chuckled.

"Gia, paper plates are so wasteful. Gia, that needs to be recycled. Gia, turn off the lights when you aren't using them. Gia, don't use the blow dryer so often. Gia! Gia! Gia!"

"I don't sound like that," Emma frowned at Gia's exaggerated imitation of her voice.

"Gia, you know meat comes from animals, right? Gia…"

"Stop it!"

"Gia, water bottles are bad for you and for the environment."

"I'm going to hurt you," Emma growled teasingly.

"Gia, you should reuse that. Gia, don't buy that. Gia, don't doodle in your notebook, you're wasting space. Gia, write in the margins…"

"You better run."

"Gia, plastic bags are…" Gia couldn't finish as Emma lunged for her, forcing her to run quickly down the halls. However, she couldn't stop teasing her best friend.

"Gia, you don't need a driver's permit! We can walk everywhere, or take our bikes, Gia! Gia, cars pollute! Gia…"

Gia raced past Noah, Troy, and Jake, and tossed her bag at the black Ranger because its weight was slowing her down and Emma was catching up quickly. Jake barely caught the bag and stumbled backwards into his locker from its weight. Noah watched the girls race by then turned to Troy.

"So, I'm smart with a lot of things, but not really girl behaviour. Is that… normal?"

Troy turned to his own locker and nodded his head, "Yep."


	78. A Storm Hits Harwood

Harwood was cleaning itself up by removing as many of the pollutants as possible in hopes that the mutants that had attacked the city would have less power to feed from. In their little invasion, they had made it clear that pollution, waste, and toxic chemicals spilled into the environment gave them strength.

The Rangers wanted to continue helping with the cleanup in the city, but Jake had another soccer game to get to and they decided to go to show him support. Gia, especially, wanted to be at his game to watch and cheer him on. He had quit the school's team, and while it was possibly one of the best decisions he made because it led to him joining the local team and playing for one of the best coaches California had to offer, it had been a big risk and a big move for Jake, and he had done it all to support her. She felt she had to show him the same level of friendship and felt comfortable doing so. Despite their few bumps, Jake was now someone Gia trusted completely, and the only boy since Cliff she felt comfortable giving her heart too. She could only hope that, by the time she was ready to start a relationship and get into the dating scene once more, Jake would still be interested.

The game was underway. Harwood was up by one point, but there was still enough time left for anything to happen. Jake stood out on the field as the smallest player, but his skills were unmatched. Gia watched from the sidelines next to Coach McKnight who had been nice enough to let Gia and the others sit on the bench with the team to support Jake for his first few games. He didn't see the harm. If anything, having Gia in sight seemed to make Jake a stronger player. Conner could tell there was something between the two.

"He's got the ball!" Noah jumped to his feet as Jake got past the final defenseman and ran towards the net. It was just him and the goalie, and putting his team up by two goals would give the team a little extra assurance that they could pull off the win. Noah rarely got excited for sports, but he had seen so many of Jake's games and watched his best friend grow as a player that he couldn't stop himself from getting excited. He bounced as Jake made it closer and closer to the net. "Go! Go! Go!"

Jake wound up for the kick, and then he abandoned the ball. He raced off the field, allowing the defensemen to catch up to him and take the ball back for the other team so they could kick it down the field. Noah groaned, he couldn't understand what was going through Jake's head. Conner threw his clipboard to the ground in frustration.

"You idiot," Gia muttered and took a seat on the bench. At that very moment, Angel Grove scored and tied up the game at one all. Conner turned to his team and the Rangers and shook his head.

"Dr. O's going to laugh about this for months. Jake…" he turned to the field to call his newest player back but Jake was nowhere near. He was almost on the other side of the park, running after what looked like a runaway stroller.

Jake had seen the stroller from the corner of his eye. There was a dog, attached to a leash, running wildly and taking the stroller with him… her, Jake wasn't sure. It seemed like there was no mother around, and the dog had no care for the stroller he was dragging around. Terrified there was a baby inside, Jake could stop himself from forfeiting his chance to score to go after the stroller.

It was a hard run. The dog was small and fast, but a dive got Jake what he wanted as he snatched the leash in his hand and his weight was enough to stop the dog in his tracks. Jake got up, held the leash tightly, and inspected the stroller. There was a baby inside, and fortunately, the stroller hadn't tipped. The baby seemed to still be quite young, and could have been seriously hurt. Jake picked the child up. After the incident, the baby was screaming. This was not what the little one expected when its mother took it for a walk in the park.

"Quinn!" someone behind him shouted and Jake turned around. It wasn't his name, but it was possible it was the name of the baby. A girl, about his age, maybe a couple of years older, approached Jake. She had one baby already in her arms and reached out for the one Jake was holding. She looked up at Jake with tears in her eyes, but seemed very, very thankful.

"You're a life saver!"

Jake shrugged his shoulders, "It was nothing. Is, uh… Quinn okay?"

"She will be," the woman put the first baby in the stroller and held her daughter tightly in her arms, still trying to sooth the baby and herself. Then she glared at the dog, "You on the other hand, are in so much trouble!"

The dog looked up at her owner and Jake chuckled when he saw the dog start to pout. The woman wasn't falling for it. She set her daughter down in the stroller now that she was starting to settle and grabbed the dog by the collar, "This is the last time you're ever coming on a walk with me and the kids! Next time, I'm keeping you in the hotel!"

"You found a hotel that allows dogs?" Jake asked. The woman shook her head.

"Not technically. We snuck her in. Storm hates strangers, so doggy day cares are out and my sister's kind of the puppy killer."

"Storm, that's a wicked name," Jake looked down at the dog and then over to the field. He could see everyone was looking his way, wondering what had taken him from the game. He pointed to the field, "I've got to go…"

"You're playing?" the woman noted the uniform and realized there was a game going on in the park. Her eyes widened, "I'm so sorry! Your team probably…"

"Hey, it's cool. As long as the kid's okay."

"She's trouble, this isn't her first rodeo… literally."

"Why don't you come watch the rest of the game," Jake offered. "My friends can hold the dog so it doesn't take off again and you can make sure the little cowgirl's not going to be scarred for life."

"Are… are you sure?"

"My friend Emma loves animals," Jake nodded, "They'd be happy to help. And you can explain to my coach why I ran off. He doesn't look very happy."

"And I'll buy you ice-cream afterwards. You saved my daughter's life. It's the very least I can do for you, uh…"

"Jake."

"Emily."

"Come watch the game. It'll be fun. Do you know soccer?"

"Enough."

Jake smiled. He took a hold of the dog's leash while Emily pushed the stroller back to the field. Conner shook his head as Jake got back. He pointed to the field.

"I saw what happened. Just get back on there and get us back that goal. We have twenty minutes left, kid."

"I'll make it up to you, Coach," Jake nodded and raced back on the field. Emily looked up at the Coach and decided it was time to pull out her puppy eyes. She didn't want Jake to get in any trouble for saving Quinn.

"I'm so sorry. I stopped to feed my son, my dog saw a squirrel and…"

"It's alright," Conner smiled to her. "You can finish watching the game."

"Ice cream for the team is on me if they lose," Emily promised before taking a seat on the bench. There were some players in uniform, watching the game intensely. Four other people were on the bench. One dropped to her knees as Storm came over.

"Aw! She's so cute!" Emma picked up the little dog and put her on her lap, "What's her name?"

"Poop-head," Emily muttered and glared at Storm. Storm nestled shamefully into Emma's arms. She knew she was in a lot of trouble and for now would seek shelter where she could.

Gia turned to Emily. Something about the stranger seemed very… not strange; like she already knew her.

Suddenly, Emily seemed to perk up. She glanced down the bench, "Troy?"

Troy leaned forward, looked down and recognized Emily, "No way! Sensei?"

"Sensei?" Noah asked. He looked to Emily and then back to Troy, "Seriously?"

"She wasn't my sensei," Troy chuckled as he got up to hug Emily, "She taught the younger kids, but she's still deadly."

"And my students kicked his butt," Emily smirked and stuck out her tongue. Troy rolled his eyes.

"Riley was a monster."

"He got his butt kicked by a five year old," Emily told his friends.

"By a five year old?" Emma laughed.

"Joke's on us," Gia whispered in Emma's ear, "He's our leader."

"She cheated," Troy glared at Emily. She shook her head.

"Everything's fair game when you're not tall enough to be above the belt!"

"You're just biased," Troy placed his hand on Emily's head.

"GOAL! Yes!" Conner jumped up and down, startling the Rangers as they turned around to see what was happening. Conner smirked, "Who's laughing now, Dr. O! We're killing!"


	79. Talks Over Ice-Cream

_Author's Note: Wow, thanks for all the reviews. Glad you guys are happy to see Emily back. She is, by far, my favourite Ranger, and I had to find a way to bring her back, as well as her little family. I had wanted to do more with her and the kids in the Samurai Series, but didn't have the time, so I'm glad to have them back for a while in the Megaforce Series._

_But Emily is only one and I did promise two, so there's still one more to come. I plan on having these cameos with my favourite past Rangers through the series until the legend war. Depending on how the show handles that, I'll see what I have to work with. I'm still not sure what's going on with that. But for now, I hope you enjoy, and keep those reviews coming!_

* * *

Emily's bank account was lucky. Harwood County beat Angel Grove in the soccer match 4-1, so her promise to buy the whole team ice-cream if they lost didn't need to be fulfilled. She still offered and apology to the coach and the rest of the team and swore to cheer for them next time they played Panorama, saying it was the least she could do considering one of their players saved her daughter's life.

She did however treat Jake, Troy, and their friends to sundaes at a local hotspot. Ernie's Brainfreeze was a bit of a weird name, but Emily would go anywhere ice-cream was served.

And with a little begging from Emma, Storm was allowing inside. Emily, however, forbade the dog from getting any treats. She was still unhappy with the stroller incident.

While she and Jake were at the counter ordering for everyone, the rest of the Rangers sat at their usual table. Troy had been put in charge of keeping his eyes on Emily's twins, considering he was the only one Emily knew for more than five minutes. As he gently pushed the stroller back and forth to keep the babies asleep, and Emma and Noah played with the dog, Gia couldn't help but stare at the counter. Troy caught her looks and chuckled.

"So Jake _is_ rubbing off on you?"

Gia rolled her eyes, "We're just friends."

"Methinks…"

"Shut up, Gertrude," Gia rolled her eyes. "I'm looking at Emily. There's a feeling I get from her. I just can't… shake it."

Troy sighed. Seeing Noah and Emma were too distracted with the dog to pay much attention, and Jake was out of earshot, he decided to say it, "Emily's Serena's sister."

He knew more about her. When he had had dreams of the white Ranger – Serena – he had seen her life. He knew she had grown up on a farm, had gotten sick, and her little sister took her place. Troy hadn't recognized Serena when she was in Harwood because he had rarely ever seen her, but since her departure, and her reveal as a Ranger, Troy had been thinking a lot and managed to put the pieces together. Back when he had been training at Shiba's, Emily spoke often of a sister Serena, Emily was a Samurai Master, she wore yellow.

The puzzle wasn't that hard to complete. However, Troy remembered Serena's wish. Her team was done fighting. They had served their time, and nearly died many times. They had moved on from their battles, started their own lives, and Troy could assume they were trying to forget. Gia didn't need to know that her predecessor was buying her ice-cream. Knowing she was Serena's sister was enough to satisfy her curiosity.

"Maybe that's it," Gia shrugged her shoulders. "Wait, really?"

"What?" Jake asked as he sat down next to Gia and passed her her sundae. Gia took it and turned to Emily.

"Your sister is Serena?"

"You're that Gia? Whoops…"

"Serena talked about me?"

"Just a bit," Emily winced apologetically, "I was following what was happening here and… I had a couple of questions. She didn't share anything big, I promise. I just know facts."

Gia sighed and slumped in her seat, "I guess I better get used to people talking."

"Um… if it helps, I can tell you about Frankie," Emily picked at her sundae, "He… uh… he was this kid who had a crush on me and… well, he was great at picking up women… just not legally."

"What does that mean?" Noah asked, looking up from the dog to listen to the story. Emily shrugged her shoulders.

"He kind of kidnapped me."

"Kind of?"

"He did," Emily nodded. "I mean, it never went any further than kissing, but I still felt disgusting afterwards, and the whole thing only lasted a couple of days. I can't imagine what it was like for you, but I know it was bad."

"So, you had a bad boyfriend experience too?" Emma asked. She remembered that was how Serena got Gia to open up quickly. Serena had shared a past boyfriend horror story in order to relate to Gia's problems and make her feel a little more comfortable. Then, when Emma's parents left the State, Serena admitted her own mother had run out on her once. Now Emily, Serena's sister, was sharing her own story about a bad boyfriend. "Seriously?"

"My family's… trouble," Emily nodded and looked down at her stroller, "and with mine and my husband's genes bubbling inside these two, we're only going to get crazier. Runaway stroller isn't the worst thing to happen to Quinny in the park. She and Storm don't really get along."

"How can you not get along with this cute face?" Emma asked and cuddled a little closer to Storm.

Gia looked over to Emily, hoping to get back on topic, "So, this thing with Frankie…"

"It was hard," Emily nodded her head. "Mike, my husband, and I were dating at the time so when Frankie kissed me and touched me… it made me feel like somehow I was cheating on Mike. I was kind of scared to face him after the incident. But he helped me through it. Him, my sister, all my friends, they were really supportive. That's what you need."

"That's what she's got," Jake smiled as he wrapped one arm around Gia's shoulders.

Emily looked right at Gia, "Frankie still scares me. Talking about him right now makes me want to throw up and jump in the shower. Do you want complete honesty?"

Gia nodded her head. More than anything, she wanted to know the truth about what was waiting for her.

Emily sighed, "You're never going to get over it. It's never not going to have happened. There's no forgetting, there's no pretending. You'll have nightmares and fears and probably even a few freak outs for the rest of your life. Especially if what happened to you…"

"It was pretty bad," Gia nodded.

"You'll never get over it, but you will move on. Just don't let it control you. There's someone out there who is going to be everything you need. He'll treat you right, and he'll give you more than you feel you deserve, and he won't settle for anything less than making you feel like you're the only thing in the world that matters. So you don't settle either, okay?"

"Yeah," Gia smiled and felt Jake give her shoulder a squeeze. The butterflies in her stomach fluttered slightly and she had to turn and look down at her ice-cream so her hair would fall around her face to hide her blush.

"So, are you really a Samurai Master?" Noah looked to Emily curiously. "Like, better than Troy?"

"Troy's pretty good," Emily smirked, "But yeah. I've been in my fair share of fights. I've bested guys twice my size."

Emily then turned to Jake, "And you're not being creative by saying everyone's twice my size. I've heard it before."

"Prove it, then," Noah challenged Emily. "You probably know, Harwood County's full of monsters now. If you really are better than Troy, I think we'd all like to learn a few moves from you. You know, self-defence in case we get into any more trouble."

"Uh, rain check?" Gia asked as she felt her phone vibrate. It was a message from her father, "Em, mom's ready to see us."

"Is she going to be okay?" Emma set Storm on the floor and got up with Gia.

"All her tests are back. I guess we'll find out," Gia said. Just as she was about to leave, she turned around and looked to Emily, "Hey, uh, how long are you in town for?"

"My husband's football team has a tournament here this weekend, then his cheerleaders have this big championship, so a little while. Why?"

"I want to hear a little more about Frankie, uh, if you don't mind," Gia said. "I want to know more about how you… how you cope with it all afterwards. Is that… could we…?"

"If I help, will you tell Serena I'm more awesome than she is?" Emily asked with a smirk, "I've always been second best. It's the curse of the second born."

"I'll tell her you cured me of everything."

"Sweet! That's a deal! Meet in the park tomorrow? I'll probably be the one chasing after the stroller."

Gia smiled before she felt a tug on her arm and saw Emma was eager to go.

When they were gone, Emily finished up her sundae quickly and then looked around at the boys, "So, any cool place to train, or are we going to have to find an alley."

"There's a spot in the woods," Troy said to Emily, "No one will bother us there."

"Good. Get ready, Troy, I'm going to kick your butt."

"Lauren and Jayden trained me pretty well," Troy said, "And I've been keeping up with my practice out here. You're in for a surprise."

Emily smiled and then looked down in the stroller at her twins, "Mommy's going to make Troy cry in front of his friends. Hopefully, if you remember anything, it'll be that, and not the time mommy went chasing after the runaway stroller. Right, Storm?"

Storm looked up at her mistress innocently and titled her head to the side slightly. Emily tried to stay mad, but there was no getting angry when Storm was clueless. She picked up her dog, gave her a little cuddle and then got up and followed the boys out to the woods.


	80. Mega Dangers

Jake winced as he watched his leader, the best martial artist on the team, and the person he trusted with his life, get his ass handed to him by a five-foot, one hundred pound girl.

It was humiliating. It was entertaining, but it was humiliating.

Troy picked himself up, brushed off some of the dirt and twigs that stuck to his clothes and he looked over at Emily, "You've gotten better."

"You too," Emily smiled. "I got scared a couple of times."

"One more round. I think I've got this," Troy challenged Emily and she nodded her head. As she readied herself for another match, she turned to her twins.

"See, size doesn't matter. Next time Terran steals your toys, Felix, you can kick his butt!"

Jake turned to Noah, "Are you as surprised as I am?"

"She's Serena's little sister," Noah shook his head. "Serena was a Ranger and saw danger as much as we did. I know if I had a little brother or sister, I would probably want to teach them a few moves too."

"That's a lot more than a few moves," Jake gestured to Emily.

"You guys want to join?" Emily suddenly called over to the boys, "If you're going to be living in a city with monster invasions, you're going to have to learn how to protect yourselves against insanely powerful opponents. I don't know if you know this, but those monsters are even stronger and heavier than they look."

Jake and Noah looked to each other. Troy waved them over.

"We could all learn something," he encouraged them. He was the only one who knew the identities of everyone. He had put the pieces together and figured out that Emily, being Serena's little sister, and knowing Serena's story, was the yellow Ranger for the Samurai team. She was more than qualified to train his team. She had years of Samurai training under her belt, and her time served as a Samurai Ranger meant she could teach his team skills that would be of extremely high value in combat. While she was in town, Troy wanted to learn as much as he could from her, and he wanted his team to take away as much as they could about battles, survival, and teamwork.

The only problem was that their learning would have to be indirect. Troy knew the Samurai Rangers were retired, and seeing Emily with two young babies made Troy consider the thought that Emily didn't want to get wrapped up in all the danger and drama again. She had enough on her plate, and had served her time. He couldn't burden her with a new team.

He also couldn't share her secret with his team. If they knew who she really was, they would still be putting Emily in danger. They would know things about her and things about the yellow Samurai Ranger that their enemies could use against them.

"So, uh," Troy looked to Emily, "Have you ever been caught up in a monster battle before?"

"It's hard not to," Emily shrugged. "Want a few pointers?"

"That would be great," Noah nodded his head, "My parents worry about me all the time now. It would be great to tell them I've been trained by a professional."

"It might also keep the bullies away," Jake smirked and nudged Noah.

Emily shook her head, "Rule number one of Samurai training: never fight for fighting sake. If you can, run. Only use what I'm about to teach you as a last resort, got it?"

"Got it," all three boys nodded their heads.

-Megaforce-

Gia hadn't seen her mother since the battle. The doctors hadn't let her in while they were treating her, and her father insisted the girls stay away until all the tests were done. He wanted them to keep busy so they weren't constantly worrying about their mother.

Gia was glad no one at school could see her as she opened the door to her mother's room and rushed over to the bed. She was sobbing by the time she reached her mother. Mrs. Moran was sitting up and caught her daughter in her arms, hugging her tight. Now that she knew Gia was the yellow Ranger, she knew her daughter had seen what had happened to her. Gia hadn't been shielded by the cameras. She also knew Gia would likely blame herself. As a Ranger, it was her responsibility to keep the civilians, her mother included, protected from all danger.

"Everything's fine," Mrs. Moran assured her and Emma as she looked over to the pink Ranger with a heavy heart. Both her girls were in danger, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Mr. Moran sat in a corner of the room and watched. He hadn't said much since he learned the truth. He wasn't sure what to say. He had spent his entire life providing for and protecting his daughter, as well as looking out for Emma, and doing all he could to ensure she got everything she needed. He wanted his girls to be happy, healthy, and safe.

That was out of his hands now that he knew they were Power Rangers. He could only helplessly watch as both his girls raced out into danger to protect not just the city, but the entire planet from the meanest and most dangerous monsters Mr. Moran could ever imagine. He was so proud of what they were doing, but he was terrified. He wished it weren't true. He wished that whatever happened to pick his girls for the position of Rangers had never happened. If he ever found the person responsible… he didn't know what he was going to do, but it would be painful.

Mrs. Moran gave Gia another squeeze, promised she would be okay, and then let her go. She looked over at Emma with tears in her eyes. Now that she knew the truth, she knew Emma was more than capable of protecting herself against that monster, and that it was better it was Emma who got caught up in all the danger than some other child that wasn't a Power Ranger, but it had still terrified her.

"Are you okay?" she pulled Emma into her arms and gave her a tight squeeze. Emma nodded her head.

"Thanks to you. Mrs. Moran, you didn't have to…"

"I'd do it again," Mrs. Moran told her. "I'd do it again and again, as long as you're okay."

"I didn't get hit," Emma nodded. "Thanks to the Rangers, and thanks to you, those monsters never hurt me."

"Mom," Gia called and Mrs. Moran turned to her daughter, "Next time, please just let the Rangers do their job. The yellow one, she…"

"I have no regrets," Mrs. Moran assured Gia and touched her cheek gently. "I knew exactly what I was doing."

"You could have gotten yourself killed. Mom, those Rangers wear suits for a reason. They're trained for this! Just… please don't ever do anything like that again."

"As long as you two are safe," Mrs. Moran smiled. Then she gestured to the bags at the end of her bed, "Would you girls mind taking those to the car. Your father and I have some things to discuss."

Gia and Emma nodded and took one bag each. Gia grabbed the keys from her father and they set off to find the car in the hospital parking lot. When they were gone, Mrs. Moran looked to her husband.

"Joe…"

"This isn't easy for me, Vanessa," he looked up at his wife. "Before I knew, every time there was a monster in the city I prayed Emma and Gia were still in school, or out in the woods, or at that stupid ice-cream place…"

"Joe…"

"The only thing that kept me sane was knowing that they were anywhere but on that battle field! That they had found somewhere safe to hide, that they were being protected by something more than just a stupid spandex suit!"

"I'm scared too," Vanessa got up from the bed and sat on her husband's lap. She wrapped her arms around him, "All we can do is hope for the best…"

"There has to be something else. Something more. Those aren't just Power Rangers anymore. Pink and Yellow aren't just colours! Our girls…"

"I know."

"There's got to be something we can do," Mr. Moran turned to his wife. She had tears in her eyes as she shook her head.


	81. Out Of Nowhere

After getting Mrs. Moran home and making sure she was comfortable and well looked after by Mr. Moran, Emma walked out to the woods with Gia. They were going to join the boys and Emily for a Samurai training lesson. Troy had called on the way home from the hospital saying it was important they show up. Mrs. Moran insisted she was fine and that the girls should spend more time with their friends.

Halfway to the woods, they met up with Jordan. If Emily was as good a sensei as Troy said she was, Emma wanted her boyfriend to take some lessons. Now that he knew her secret, he was likely going to need to know how to get away from monsters.

The boys and Emily were in Troy's usual training spot. Emily was having a little one on one session with Noah, running him through some stances, while Troy and Jake practiced their new moves together. It looked like a real martial arts lesson, and Emma saw Emily knew exactly what she was doing.

"I need a break," Noah said when the girls arrived. He stepped away from Emily to grab his water bottle and took a seat on the log, "All this fighting is wearing me down."

"That's why you have to keep up with your training," Emily told him. "You never know how long a battle is going to last. When your life is in danger, there are no water breaks. You'll build up your endurance over time, though. Don't worry."

"How long have you been practicing?" Jordan asked Emily as Gia pushed him over to train first. He knew she just wanted to watch him get his butt kicked. However, Emily didn't look tough at all.

"Since I was about eight."

Jordan chuckled, "So, what, like… eight years…" he was flipped on to his back and had to pause to catch his breath. He stared up at the sky and watched what looked like stars dance with the leaves on the trees.

Emma helped him up. Emily crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Jordan.

"I'm almost twenty, thank you very much," Emily shook her head, "In about a month. Besides, living in a city that's under attack by monsters for two years really pushes your training forward. You have no idea the kind of situations I've gotten myself into."

"Guys, I wouldn't be asking her to give us a little pointers if I didn't think she was one of the best," Troy reassured his team and placed his hands on Emily's shoulders.

"I knew she could kick Jordan's butt," Gia smirked. Emma rolled her eyes.

"Are you two ever going to stop bickering?"

"Hey," Jordan pointed at Gia, "I like her. She's the one who doesn't like me."

"I can count, on one hand, the number of people I actually like," Gia smirked. "You're not one of them."

Emily watched the back and forth between Gia and Jordan, and then looked to Emma and saw the annoyed look on her face. She chuckled and gave Emma a reassuring smile.

"My sister and husband still bicker. I like to think of it as another kind of love. I'll teach you how to use it to your advantage…" she trailed off as Storm, who was sitting by a tree, playing with a toy to keep busy, started to bark. To anyone else, they would have just assumed Storm had seen a squirrel or a rabbit, or some other little critter that was good for chasing, but Emily knew her dog. She knew this bark wasn't for hunting. There was danger. Just as she turned around, the ground beneath her feet suddenly blew up, knocking her and the Rangers back.

Blasts then came, like beams of energy. Emily could hear Storm's panicked barking, but through the fog and the falling debris she could see her dog had taken cover behind the trunk of a tree. She was safe enough for now. However, she had left her twins sleeping in their stroller right out in the open. She got up to run and grab them. She needed to protect them. She could hear them screaming, begging for her to keep them safe. But as soon as she got up, a blast hit her in the leg. She was knocked back to the ground and cried out in agonizing pain. She wanted to get up again, but her body wouldn't let her.

Eventually, the blasts stopped and the smoke cleared. Troy, who had stayed low after the first blast, finally looked up.

"Guys; is everyone okay?"

"We're fine," Noah told him. Troy looked around and saw his teammates were sitting up, shaking off the cobwebs. They looked a little roughed up, but for the most part they were fine. Then he noticed Emily. She was trying to get up and already sobbing hysterically. Her leg was covered in blood. Troy didn't need to be a doctor to know that she was hurt badly. He jumped up to his feet and raced to her side. She wanted to get up but he pushed her down and had her lay in the dirt.

"Noah, Jordan!" he called the boys over so they could look at Emily's leg.

Emma jumped up and raced over to untie Storm from the tree. The little dog was pressed up at the base of the trunk, shaking from terror. Emma couldn't blame her. Fortunately, she seemed unharmed. Emma unclipped Storm from her leash and took the dog in her arms. Storm snapped at her a couple of times before she settled; realizing Emma wasn't going to hurt her.

Jake moved in closer to Gia to see how she was doing, but before he could ask he saw the stroller had been knocked over. He couldn't hear the babies crying, so he jumped up to check up on them and make sure they were okay. Gia followed him. Jake inspected the carriage for the twins, but both seats were empty. He turned around to Gia and shook his head.

"What does that mean?" Gia asked and had a look for herself. She turned to Jake, "This doesn't make sense…"

"A kidnapping?"

"That was definitely a monster attack," Gia nodded her head, "but why would they go after babies?"

"Guys, we need to get Emily to the…"

"I'm fine!" Emily screamed at Troy as she tried to get up again, "Felix, Quinn…"

"Jake and Gia will look after them," Troy promised her. "Emma will take care of Storm. You need a doctor."

"A good one," Noah looked at Emily's leg and winced, "You were hit pretty hard."

"I'll be fine!" Emily pushed the boys away. She tried to get up again, but screamed and fell down. Her leg wouldn't allow it. Finally admitting defeat, she lay in the dirt and grabbed a clump of it in her fists.

"Get me back to my hotel…"

"My house," Emma corrected Emily. "Mom and dad haven't sold it yet. It'll be impossible getting you into a hotel with half your leg… like that."

Emma had to turn away and tried not to gag, "If you don't want to go to the hospital, at least let us take you back to my place."

"Fine," Emily whimpered and Troy lifted her up, careful not to hurt her leg any further.

Jake looked down at the stroller, then he turned to Gia. She looked just as panicked as he felt.

"What do we do?" he asked her.

Gia turned around and called Emma's name. When her best friend turned around, Gia pointed to the stroller.

"The kids a little banged up," she said, "Jake's mom is a nurse. We'll ask her to look at them and catch up to you guys soon."

"Maybe she can look at Emily," Emma offered. Gia shook her head.

"How would we explain that? We can tell Mrs. Holling that the kids are my cousins and the stroller tipped. She won't know."

"Alright. Don't be too long," Emma said, "And stay together."

Emma gave the two a little teasing smirk before she turned around and followed the boys back to her place. Gia turned to Jake. His jaw was on the ground.

"You lied to Emma?"

"I'll tell her the truth later," Gia said, "We've got to find those kids."

"Yeah, but Gia…"

"If they think the kids are fine, Emily thinks they're fine. She'll have her leg looked over. You know she's only going to Emma's because she thinks the kids are okay."

"Gia…"

"Mom took that goo blast unprotected for Emma," Gia looked Jake in the eyes. "Emily's a mom too, and she's got two defenseless babies. What do you think she's going to choose: finding her kids, or getting her leg fixed? Troy put us in charge of looking after the twins, and that's what we're going to do. When we need help, we'll call the others."

"Alright, I guess. Where do we start looking?"


	82. Vulnerable And Powerful

Troy felt dizzy and faint as he sat on the couch with his head in his hands. It wasn't from all the blood he saw, though Emily was bleeding heavily and it had already made Emma sick. Normally his dreams waited until he was asleep, or they came in a less powerful form as a daydream, occupying his mind when there was nothing else to keep him entertained. This time his need to be on high alert to help his friends with Emily's leg was interfering with his dreams. Troy had to sit down.

In his dreams, Troy saw the Samurai Rangers in a battle, but his dreams kept him focused on the yellow Ranger. This time, Troy knew why his dreams were being so specific. In fact, they were only confirming what he already knew. Emily was a former Ranger. He still couldn't understand why he was the only one with these dreams, but there was something about his body, or his Ranger powers, that made him capable of detecting when a Ranger was nearby. Since Jake had joined his new team, Troy had had a couple of dreams of a dinosaur themed team of Rangers, who served to protect Reefside between 2003 and 2004. The dreams were a lot fuzzier, likely because this Ranger's powers were long gone, but there was something about Jake's soccer team that triggered dreams in Troy.

Troy had learned a lesson from Serena, and would respect her word with all former teams. They had served their time, so many, many years ago, and were on to new lives now. Already, from what Troy could see, the Samurai Rangers had started families. They didn't need to get wrapped up in Ranger business once more – not unless they were needed.

"Troy!" Noah called and placed a hand on his shoulder, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Troy nodded, "Just dreams."

"About?" Noah knew of Troy's dreams. The red Ranger would sometimes share with his teammates when he thought there was something about them that they needed to know. Troy shook his head.

"Nothing, just something about Robo-Knight."

"Hey, yeah, where is he?" Noah asked. "We were just under attack. Surely he should have come to help us."

"We didn't do much either," Troy shrugged his shoulders. He looked across the room. Jordan insisted he had a little first aid training and Emily's wounds weren't making him sick at all. Since his stunt pretending to be the red Ranger, Jordan realized how much he wanted to protect people. His goals for now were to be a police officer, and he was taking them seriously. He took a few first aid courses online to get a bit of a head start, and he knew being a police officer meant he needed a strong stomach. He was no doctor, but since Emily refused to be taken to a hospital, he was the best the team could offer her.

"I'll be fine," Emily insisted and tried to sit up, "Just let me call my husband. If I'm not back at the hotel soon he's going to worry."

"Here," Jordan gave Emily his cell phone then turned to Troy and Noah. He joined them on the couch. "I don't get it. I told her how bad her knee looks. She's seen it for herself. A lot of times, people who are hurt that badly, after something that traumatic, go into shock. She looks like she just got a paper cut."

"And not even a painful one," Noah commented, "Just the kind you don't know about until you put sanitizer on your hands and then they all start to burn."

Emma came into the room with Storm. The dog ran over to the chair where Emily was sitting, and nestled into her mistress' arms, while Emma walked over to the boys and sat down. Jordan wrapped his arms around her.

"You're looking a little green," he chuckled.

Emma pulled away from him, "You're covered in blood."

"Yeah, I was trying to help Emily with her knee."

"I'm going to puke again," Emma got up to leave and had to race to the bathroom if she wanted to make it in time.

On the chair, Emily finished her conversation with Mike by telling him where she was. He promised he would be over quickly. She left out the details about her knee, not wanting to worry him until he could have a look for himself.

Then she tried to get out of the chair. Emma told her that Gia and Jake had taken her kids to Jake's mother because she was a nurse, but Emily wanted to get them back. That attack in the woods had reminded her too much of her time as a Ranger, and she knew there were monsters invading Harwood County. She needed to see her kids, to see that they were alright, and to keep them close so that nothing could happen to them.

But as she got to her feet, her leg couldn't carry her weight and she fell over. Storm jumped off the chair and was by her side, trying to help her sit up. The boys came over.

"You can't walk on it," Jordan said as he and Troy lifted Emily back in the chair. "Seriously, you need a real doctor!"

"I'll be fine!" Emily shouted, "I want my kids!

Storm, seeing her mistress was upset, turned to the boys and bared her teeth. Emily held her by her collar so she wouldn't snap. Storm, like herself, was small, but she could still put up a fight.

"Jake and Gia are looking after them," Noah promised. "They're fine."

-Megaforce-

Gia's first instinct had been to go back to the factory that had been the site of their field trip the other day. Emma had told her about what she had seen underground. While the location of the Warstar's headquarters was still unknown to the Rangers, these new monsters seemed to have a base on Earth. They fed off pollution from the factory, and had built a shelter for themselves. When Emma had fallen, she had fallen into the base. Gia knew there had to be a way inside, and if there was any place that was good to find the babies, it was there.

"You think the mutants took them?" Jake asked as he followed Gia, careful to watch his step. The yellow Ranger nodded her head.

"It's a good place to start. We have no clue where Vrak and those Insectoids come from, so we might as well check here."

"It's a good thing Emma disappeared, then," Jake commented. Gia turned around and glared at him. He shrugged, "Too soon?"

"Emma disappears, is kidnapped, my mom is attacked, and now Serena's niece and nephew have been kidnapped possibly by the same creatures? Yeah, too soon."

"You're taking this personally," Jake said. Gia had been determined to find and rescue the kids from the moment she knew they were gone. She had stormed through the woods, morpher at the ready, and took the lead the entire way.

Gia turned around and looked to Jake, "Serena saved me from Cliff. I know you guys were coming but… she was there. She helped me in a way I never thought anyone could. Now Emily's here, she's her sister, and she's hurt, and those kids are her niece and nephew. I know she really loves them. She's done so much for me that I can't… I'd hate myself all over again if anything happened to the babies. And… and there's something else."

"What?"

"Something about Emily just feels familiar," Gia said. Jake looked like he was about to comment, but Gia shook her head, "More than just the fact that she's Serena's sister. I feel like… like there's something about her that just… resonates with me. Maybe it's that goo the last monster threw at us, or maybe I'm still sick, but I feel like there's something that connects us and I just… I can't shake it."

"She is a Power Ranger's sister," Jake shrugged his shoulders, "And Serena had earth powers. We've got all the land cards. Maybe it's that."

Gia shook her head, "But do you feel it?"

"No. Maybe you're just more sensitive to this stuff. You know, with the whole _Mother _earth thing. And isn't the name of that roman god of earth and stuff Gaia? That's like Gia."

"Greek," Gia corrected him with a roll of the eyes and a shake of the head, "She's the goddess of the Earth and mother of the gods. And _that's_ just a coincidence, Holling."

"There are no coincidences in the Ranger universe," Jake smirked. Suddenly, he felt the ground disappear until his feet and he fell. He let out a cry as he did so then hit something hard. Gia rushed over to the edge of the hole Jake had fallen through and looked down.

"Looks like you found our in," she said and jumped down, landing gracefully on her feet while Jake spit out the dirt that got caught in his mouth.

"Monsters can't have a doorbell or something?" he pulled himself up to his feet and had a look around, "Alright, if we weren't already monster hunting, this would be sus…"

Gia covered his mouth with her hand and signalled for him to be quiet.

"Our voices will travel further in these caves," she whispered, "If the monsters are around, we need to be quiet so they don't know we're here. Just followed my lead."

Jake nodded his head, and tip-toed carefully behind Gia. She hadn't been lying about the voices travelling. After a few twists and turns down the tunnels, Jake could hear the monsters' voices. Gia followed the sound, and Jake followed her, until they came to a room. They peeked around the corner, trying to gage what they were up against and if the kids were even in the tunnels before they attacked.

The big, blue, fuzzy monster and the blob were in the cave, just as Gia expected, but Vrak was with them. He had both of Emily's twins in his arms and seemed to be looking over them.

"Just as I suspected," he smirked, "there is a lot of power within these children. I've never known something so small and vulnerable could be so… useful."

"Power?" Jake looked to Gia, "What's he talking about? Those are babies."

"Shh," Gia whispered, covering his mouth again.

Vrak passed off Felix to the big monster, telling him to hold the boy while he took a look at the girl. It was obvious the monster had no idea how to hold a baby as he grabbed Felix by his foot and dangled him, making the little boy cry. Vrak, meanwhile, held up Quinn, and the smirk on his face grew a little wider.

"For some reason, she's stronger," he said, "I can feel it. This child can make the Earth bend at her will."

"Maybe it's residue power from her aunt," Jake pulled Gia's hand away from his mouth, "I told you, Serena was Earth."

"Doesn't matter what he's talking about," Gia shook her head, "He's not getting those kids."

She held out her morpher. Jake reached into his bag and took his. They morphed instantly before jumping out of hiding.

Jake went after the big monster and Felix. He had to get the little boy in his arms as soon as possible so he could run. This wasn't a battle where he wanted to destroy the monsters. He wanted the babies safe. Gia set her sights on Vrak, but he stepped back and allowed the blob monster to fight his battle for him.

"Tiger Claw!" Gia cried out and swiped at the monster. The sooner she could get past him, the sooner she could go after Vrak as he began to disappear into the shadows. Just when Gia thought he was going to get away, a ball of light flew past her and transformed into Robo-Knight.

"You," she growled at her ally. Though the boys had assured her Gosei wanted Robo-Knight to be their sixth Ranger, she still couldn't stop herself from hating the robot.

Robo-Knight pointed his blaster at Vrak, "You have one chance. Surrender now, or be destroyed."

"What?" Jake turned away from his battle when he heard Robo-Knight's demands to Vrak and saw the robotic Ranger had a very powerful blaster pointed at the alien as well as the little baby. Jake couldn't believe what he was seeing. He wouldn't use his own blaster or even his axe, terrified of accidentally hurting Felix.

"What are you doing?" Gia screamed. She used her Tiger Claw to swipe at the blob monsters one more time, knocking him down, and then ran over to Robo-Knight. She grabbed his arm and tried to get him to lower the blaster, "Robo-Knight, you're going to hurt her!"

"Threats need to be destroyed," Robo-Knight pushed Gia out of the way and put his finger on the trigger. Gia hit the ground and looked up. Robo-Knight was ready to shoot. She turned to Vrak and Quinn. As much as she wanted to see Vrak destroyed for good, the cost was too high. Quinn was too innocent. Gia pulled out her own blaster and quickly shot at Robo-Knight before he could shoot at Vrak.

Vrak chuckled at the sight before him, then said his goodbyes and fled with Quinn.

Jake focused on his battle. He grabbed Felix, cradled the little boy in his arms, and summoned his axe. As the big monster was about to attack, he was blasted by Gia.

"Let's go!" Gia called to Jake. He nodded his head and followed her out of the caves. They ran until they were in the woods and caught up to Robo-Knight. Jake took a seat on a log and powered down so he could have a look at Felix and make sure the baby was okay.

Gia, still morphed, shoved Robo-Knight. He was too heavy for her to push into the dirt, but she did manage to make him stumble.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she shouted at him, "You were going to kill the baby! You let that bastard get away with her!"

"My sole mission is to destroy the monsters," Robo-Knight told her.

"Your mission," Gia cried, and grabbed Robo-Knight's arm as he tried to turn and leave, "is to protect the planet and the people living on it! You put that baby in danger!"

"Release my arm," Robo-Knight said.

"Not until you get it! We lost that battle because of you! We lost a little girl!"

"Gia!" Jake cried when he saw Robo-Knight pull out his blaster, but there was nothing he could do. Thinking the robot was going to shoot, Jake did his best to shield Felix from the blast.

Instead, Robo-Knight smashed the butt of his blaster into Gia's head, knocking her down and forcing her to let go and power down.

"You interfered with my mission," Robo-Knight told her, "The failure is on you."

With that, he turned away and walked off. Jake dropped down beside Gia and helped her sit up.

"We got one kid," he told her and gestured to Felix in his arms, now sleeping soundly. "Let's get back to the others. They'll help."

Gia held her head and was a little shaky on her feet as Jake helped her up. He cradled the baby in one arm, and let Gia lean on him on his other side.

"Vrak wanted the baby," Gia said to Jake and looked at him, "He said she had power."

"Her aunt was a Ranger."

"He said she could bend the earth at will," Gia said then held her head, "Ugh, that stupid robot doesn't pull any punches."

"We'll get you checked out at Emma's," Jake nodded. "We'll figure out what's going on. The most important thing right now is getting Felix home to his mommy."


	83. Daughter Of The Earth And Forest

Mike didn't know the streets of Harwood County, so it took him a little longer than expected to find Emily, but he did make it, and stormed into the house without knocking to be by her side.

"Are you okay?" she had told him about the attack in the woods, but not about her knee. It was bandaged up, so he couldn't see just how bad the wound was, but he did know she was hurt. He tried to touch it, Emily grabbed his wrist.

"I'll be fine," she promised and pulled him in for a hug. "I've had worse."

Emily's words felt honest to Troy, but that only made him feel sick. It meant that, as a Ranger, he could expect a lot more than what he was seeing now. Emily couldn't put any weight at all on her injured leg. She was down, and unfortunately it was nothing unusual for her.

Mike hugged his wife tightly and then looked around. Storm had fallen asleep on Emily's lap, but the kids weren't nearby. Because Mike spent most of his day in a loud gymnasium, or on a big field full of people cheering, he let Emily watch the kids. Felix and Quinn were supposed to be with her.

"Where are the kids?"

"They're with our friends," Troy walked over. He knew Mike would recognize him, and maybe that would help him stay calm when he said his kids weren't sleeping soundly in a bedroom upstairs. "They're being well looked after, I can assure you."

"You have to get them," Emily looked up at Mike, "They won't let me get up. They say they took the kids to one of their moms because she's a nurse, but it's been hours."

"I'll go," Mike nodded his head. He gave Emily a kiss and then turned to Troy. "Where did they go?"

Noah watched the scene and gulped. He knew Jake's mother wasn't a nurse. She wasn't anything close to that, but he figured the lie had come up for a reason and knew the only way Emily would let herself be taken care of was if she thought her kids were safe. Noah wasn't sure what Jake and Gia were doing, but trusted they had things under control.

"They'll be back soon," he said and held up his cell phone. Now it was his turn to lie, but he couldn't have Mike visiting Jake's house only to discover the truth, "They're on their way back now."

"I'll meet them halfway…"

"No! Uh… I mean…" before Noah had to come up with another lie to explain why Mike wasn't allowed to go see his kids, the front door opened again. A few seconds later, Jake stumbled into the living room. He had a sleeping Felix in one arm, and he was holding up Gia with the other. Jordan got up from the couch and took Gia from Jake, letting her sit down so Jake could rest. He was tired from having to practically carry her and the baby all the way from the edge of town.

"Felix!" Emily cried for her son. Mike took Felix from Jake's arms, cuddled with his son for a quick moment before passing him over to Emily. She hugged him close to her chest and cried. Though she believed her son was safe, anytime he wasn't with her or Mike, she worried deeply about him.

Mike turned back to Jake, "We have twins. Where's my daughter?"

Jake gulped and took a step back. He wasn't sure how to explain what had happened but Mike was pressing him for an answer. Jake knew he needed to say something and fast.

"She was kidnapped," his words did nothing to help him. The only time Jake was good under pressure was on the soccer field or in battle. When he had to use his words and think carefully of what to say to calm someone down in only a few seconds, he had a tendency to make things worse.

His words earned him a punch to the jaw.

"She's a baby!" Mike screamed as he stood over Jake. He was waiting for the younger boy to get up so he could knock him down again. If Jake's words weren't true, they weren't funny and Mike needed to let him know that. If they were, nothing could save Jake from the beating he was about to receive except when Troy grabbed his arms and stood between him and Jake while Noah raced over to help his best friend get up and step away from Mike.

"We'll figure this out," Troy promised Mike and then glanced over at Emily. "Your daughter will be safe."

"I'll make sure of that," Mike growled, "Who took her? What happened?"

"I…" Jake started but he wasn't sure how to answer without getting hit again. The truth would do him no good, but no lie seemed good enough.

Mike turned to Gia, "Well? What the hell did you let happen to my…"

"She did her best!" Jake cried and Noah suddenly found he had to hold the black Ranger back.

Troy could see everything was getting worse. Mike had a temper, Emily looked like she was ready to kill but her leg was holding her back, and Jake and Gia seemed a little shaken up, letting him know something serious had happened.

"Jordan," Troy turned to the couch, "Take Gia upstairs. Bring Emma with you. Jake and Noah, you too."

"I'm not done with him," Mike growled and pointed to Jake. Troy grabbed his arm and held him back.

"I have something important to tell you," he stated. "Just have a seat on the couch. Just for a minute."

Mike growled again, and took a seat on the armrest of Emily's chair to look over his wife and son. Troy lead his teammates from the room and brought them all upstairs to Emma's bedroom.

"What happened?" Emma asked, looking around. She had been sick in the bathroom, unable to keep her meals down after seeing Emily's wound. She saw Gia holding her head and looking a little dizzy, and Jake had a mark on his cheek that looked like it was going to turn into a pretty bad bruise.

Troy looked to Jake and Gia, "That's what I want to know."

"Vrak got the kid," Jake explained. "Him and those mutated bastards took the babies."

"We followed them to their base," Gia said, "Vrak said something about them having power."

"They're infants," Jordan shook his head, "How could they be of any use to him?"

"We tried to get them back," Jake ignored Jordan and looked over to Troy, "We could have taken them both back, but Robo-Knight got in the way."

"He did?"

"Vrak was holding Quinn," Gia nodded her head and then looked down at her hands, "I couldn't get to him in time but Robo-Knight showed up. Instead of trying to help, he pointed his blaster right at Vrak. He was going to shoot. He didn't care about the baby. So… so I had to shot him and Vrak took his chance and got away."

"You did the right thing," Troy assured her. Emma sat down beside Gia and hugged her tight. Troy looked to Jake, "Any idea why Vrak would want the kids?"

"He said power. He said Quinn could bend the earth at will. I don't know, maybe he was smoking something or maybe he's right."

"Okay," Troy sighed, "I'll find something to tell Emily and Mike. But you guys rest up."

"What about Quinn?" Gia asked.

"We'll find her," he promised and then he stepped out of the room and walked down the stairs. He took a big breath before he walked into the living room.

Troy looked directly at Emily, "I know you're the yellow Ranger. The yellow Samurai Ranger."

"What? That's…"

"I'm red. Megaforce Red. Upstairs, those are my teammates," Troy turned to Mike, "The guy you punched, he was the black Ranger."

"Prove it." Mike challenged.

"Call Serena. When she was here, she helped us out. She knows who we are," Troy said. "Look, I only found out about you because of these strange dreams I'm having…"

"You found out about her," Mike pointed to Emily, "What did Serena say?"

"Nothing about her," Troy assured Mike, "She kept the rest of her teammates' identities a secret from us because you guys are retired now. I wasn't going to say anything. I figured you didn't want to get caught up in this Ranger stuff again but…"

"But?" Mike asked.

"Vrak, one of our bad guys… he's got your daughter."

"Watch it," Mike growled and stepped forward. Emily grabbed his arm.

"Mike!"

"Emily, he's…"

"Troy, are you really telling the truth?" Emily asked, "You're… you're a Power Ranger?"

"How else would I know about you?" Troy said. "And why would I lie about your daughter?"

"Why would this Vrak guy want our daughter?"

"He said something about power," Troy answered Mike. "Your Ranger powers, Emily, they aren't… is it possible Quinn may have gotten something from you?"

"From… from us," Emily turned to Mike with a look of horror on her face, "Mike's the green Ranger. We're…"

"Our Ranger powers are passed down from generation to generation," Mike said. "Our parents were Rangers before us."

Troy nodded his head, "So Quinn does have power?"

Emily nodded and hugged Felix a little closer, "She's… she's also the firstborn."

"Firstborns get all the perks," Mike explained to Troy. "They're just… naturally, they have more power inside of them."

"And Quinn's the first… she's… she's of two Rangers," Emily cold barely get her words out as panic and fear started to consume her. "She's… she's the first… she's the firstborn of two different families… She's earth and forest…"

"She'll be okay," Troy promised. "We'll get her back."

"I'll help…"

"No," Troy turned to Mike, "My priority is getting your daughter back, but also keeping all four of you safe. When my team comes back downstairs, you'll pretend I told you something else. A lie that somehow explains where your daughter is and that got you to believe us."

"My daughter…"

"If those monsters find out about you, who you are, you're not going to be retired Rangers anymore," Troy said. "If we need help, we'll call, but for now, you're just regular worried parents."

"Get her back," Mike growled and stood over Troy, "My team's got two red Rangers, we'll gladly spare one of them and I'll take care of you personally."

"I promise, we'll bring her back," Troy said. "She'll be safe."


	84. Vrak's Plan

That night, Emily couldn't sleep. She was thrilled her son was home and that he was unharmed. She was over the moon that he seemed to have absolutely no recollection of his most horrifying day. However, getting him to sleep was more work that Emily had ever had to put up with. While Felix seemed to have no idea his life had been in danger he knew there was something wrong. As his mother tried to lay him down in the makeshift crib his father had set up for him, he started to scream louder than ever before. He knew his sister wasn't with him. They shared a crib since birth and they seemed to love each other's company at night. It was a little rough getting them to both settle down long enough to fall asleep, but they were comfortable when they were together. In the mornings, sometimes Mike and Emily would go into their room to get them out of bed, and find them lying wide awake and babbling back and forth.

They knew when the other was near. They took comfort in the presence of their sibling. Felix knew his big sister was gone, and he let his parents know how much he missed her. It took Emily hours of rocking him to sleep in her arms before he settled down and fell asleep. Once he was out, Emily lay awake in bed. It was Emma's parents' old bed. Emma, and the rest of the Megaforce team, let Mike and Emily stay in Emma's old house while they searched for Quinn. They figured it would be more comfortable for the worried parents.

Emily lay awake and she prayed as hard as she could that this would be the only night she had to try and sleep without her daughter. Felix needed his sister back, and Emily was already getting gray hairs from all the stress this was causing her. After about an hour of trying to sleep, and only managing to wind herself up further, Emily got up, grabbed the crutches Mike make for her out of Symbol Power, and snuck down the stairs.

Mike looked like he had passed out on the couch, like his body had decided enough was enough and shut down on him. Knowing a monster had his daughter meant there was no one he could call for help, but he had his cell phone gripped tightly in his hand as he waited on news from the Rangers. Emily knew he was doing all he could to help them, without compromising his identity. Though it was hard standing back, if the Rangers could get Quinn home, it would be safer in the long run if no one but Troy knew they were also Rangers. It was best for her and Mike, and it was the only thing that would protect Quinn and Felix. If the monsters found out that Quinn was not only powerful, but the daughter of two former Rangers and next in line for the green _and_ yellow Samurai Ranger powers, there was no telling what kind of danger she would be in.

Emily draped a blanket over Mike. She couldn't imagine he was comfortable sleeping in his position, but a sore neck would be the least of his worries if Quinn wasn't home when he woke up. And if she was; if there was the slightest chance that, come morning, Quinn would be back with her parents, Mike wouldn't even notice his neck was sore.

Letting Mike sleep, Emily stepped out of the house. She left the door open in case Felix woke up and started crying. She wanted to be able to hear him. She took a seat on the stairs of the porch and sighed as she looked out at the street.

Serena couldn't help her. The Megaforce team already knew her identity, and they knew she was Emily's sister. It wouldn't be a far cry to have Serena come in to rescue her niece. No one would be the wiser. But Emily couldn't risk it. Though her daughter was one of the most precious things in the world to her, Serena was pregnant. She didn't belong in a battle field. Emily couldn't worry her.

She wanted to call for help. She wanted to trust the Megaforce Rangers, but she barely knew them. Troy was the most familiar person on that team, and yet she couldn't get past the thought of him being just a student at Shiba's Dojo. When he had trained him earlier that day, she had bested him in most of their spars. If Troy was the best Ranger on the team and if he was the only one Emily couldn't trust completely to save her daughter… Emily's stomach flipped, and she nearly threw up right on the porch. Quinn needed help.

She thought about calling Mia and Kevin. If Mike couldn't help Quinn, and Serena was too pregnant, then Emily wanted Mia or Kevin to come help. She would trust them. She knew they would do everything to get Quinn home to her safely. One of them was worth more than five or even six Megaforce Rangers. But they also had a daughter and they had commitments. Kevin was needed at work in the morning, and Mia would be going on a field trip with Riley's class. Emily knew they would drop everything for her and for Quinn, but it was too much to ask.

Emily took out her cell phone. Ji wasn't a Ranger and Kate had no real Samurai Powers. That only left three. Antonio was working hard trying to get his restaurant started. He spent many nights wide awake dealing with the paper work and the renovations. He could help, but Emily was worried he was too tired. Jayden too. Between helping his fiancé get a restaurant ready for business, and dealing with his own business and his students, Jayden was likely to be way too stressed.

Lauren wasn't even available to help. She had gone on a vacation with her girlfriend Ally and her parents. She was unreachable for the next couple of weeks, not that Emily wanted to disturb her. Lauren hadn't gotten a chance to be a Ranger for long, but she had spent more time training that any of the other Samurai. She deserved her retirement. She deserved to not have to worry.

All her friends would help her at the drop of a hat, but with one team already on the job, Emily couldn't justify disturbing her friends. She hated that she had been pulled back into Ranger mode. She hated the way the danger felt, how it was threatening her family. She couldn't put that pressure back on her friends and family. Not unless they were really needed.

She didn't know how much she would trust the Megaforce Rangers, but she had to. For now, she just had to hope that this new team would be able to bring her daughter home safely.

Felix's cries pulled her from her thoughts. He was awake, and he sounded very unhappy because his sister still wasn't by his side. Emily got up and went back inside the house to look after her son. She pulled him from his crib and rocked his gently.

"She'll come home," she promised him, though she wasn't sure herself.

-Megaforce-

Gia was in school, and felt like this was a waste of her time. She and the others had gone to Gosei and ask that he and Tensou keep an eye out for Vrak, and if possible they try to track Quinn. Given Vrak thought the baby was so powerful, Gia insisted there had to be an energy reading that they could find from her. Tensou and Gosei promised they would look, and they would let the Rangers know as soon as they found something.

"We just have to hope that Vrak needs Quinn for something," Emma said. She knew Gia was worried about the baby. The yellow Ranger blamed herself for what had happened. Though she redirected the blame to Robo-Knight, saying she had no choice but to shot at him to keep Quinn safe, the fact of the matter was that Vrak escaped because Gia had let him. Because Gia had made the decision that Quinn was better off alive in Vrak's arms. Only now they didn't know if she was alive, or what Vrak wanted with her. Her parents were worried, and rightfully so, and it was all because of the decision Gia made.

Emma touched Gia's arm, "You made the right call. You gave Quinn a chance. If Vrak needs her power, I'm sure he needs her alive. We'll find her."

"How?" Gia shrugged Emma's hand from her arm and pulled away, "Unless Mr. Burley's got her, we're not doing anything…"

"Change of plans," Troy raced past the girls, with Jake and Noah right behind him. Gia heard her morpher going off and didn't need to be told twice. She slammed her locker shut and followed the boys out of the school just as the bell rang to start class.

Jordan, from his locker, could see the five of them leaving and he groaned. Though he had made it seem exciting and fun when he had pretended to be a Ranger, he now knew of all the troubles that came with the spandex. His friends were about to miss a class, maybe even the whole day and there would be no way to explain it. He didn't envy them one bit.

-Megaforce-

Tensou's coordinates sent the Rangers to a quarry. There was no one and nothing around for miles, which was suspicious enough. But when they arrived, they saw Vrak standing and waiting for them with a wicked smirk on his face.

"Rangers…"

"Where's the kid?" Gia cried, stepping ahead of Troy to take the lead. Somehow, this mission felt personal.

Vrak shook his head, "Now, now, Rangers, I assure you, the little brat is safe and sound. However, I have other plans."

"Whatever you're planning, you can forget about it!" Jake shouted. "We're getting Quinn back and we'll go through you if we have to."

Vrak laughed, "You think you're a match for me? I could destroy you all with my hands tied behind my back. Fortunately, it's not you I'm after."

"Then who?" Gia asked. Suddenly, a bright light appeared overhead and Robo-Knight materialized before her. Gia groaned loudly and rolled her eyes, "Great. As if this day wasn't bad enough."

"Stand back, humans," Robo-Knight held out his hand and shoved Gia backwards before he took out his blaster and pointed it at Vrak, "You have one chance. Stand down and surrender now, or be destroyed."

"Now that the gang's all here," Vrak took a step forward which forced Robo-Knight to shoot. His blast was powerful and knocked Vrak right into the wall of the cliff behind him. Vrak smacked the wall and then he dropped to the ground.

"Now, now," he coughed as he pulled himself up to his feet, "I have the child in a safe, but secure location. If you destroy me…"

"Threats to the Earth must be destroyed," Robo-Knight pointed his blaster at Vrak again. The Rangers morphed. Gia grabbed his arm.

"Stop! Didn't you hear him? We'll never find out where he hid Quinn if you…"

Robo-Knight didn't pay any attention and he shot again. It took Vrak longer to get back up this time. Gia ripped the blaster from Robo-Knight's hand.

"He is a threat to the environment," Robo-Knight turned to Gia and the Rangers, "I must destroy him, and anyone who puts this planet in danger. Robo-Blade!"

"What are you…" Troy didn't have time to ask as he was forced to jump back, away from Robo-Knight in order to avoid being sliced in half by the robot's sword.

"If you protect the enemy, you are the enemy," Robo-Knight could move faster than the eye could see, and before the Rangers knew it, they were on the ground, reeling in pain from an attack they had never seen. Robo-Knight then took his blaster back from Gia and pointed it at Vrak.

"Vulcan Cannon!"

"You can't destroy him!" Emma shouted, "He knows where Quinn is!"

"Don't you care about the people who live on this planet?" Noah asked.

"I care only about eliminating threats to the planet," Robo-Knight said, "I am incapable of caring about anything else."

In the distance, Vrak was back on his feet. He clutched his ribs and seemed to be in a lot of pain, but there was still a sick smirk twisted on his face.

"Go ahead," he held his arms out, opening himself up to Robo-Knight's attack, "Destroy me. Finish me off. Complete your mission. But know that without me, the child does not stand a chance."

"You had your chance to surrender," Robo-Knight charged up his cannon. Vrak watched, smirking as everything went exactly according to plan. Robo-Knight fired, his blast was aimed right at the Prince of Evil, but it never reached. Vrak couldn't believe what he was seeing, even though his plan had relied on this very thing happening. Humans were so emotionally driven. They cared too much for each other. He knew with the child in danger, the Rangers wouldn't let Vrak be defeated so easily. So long as he never gave up the location of the child, they couldn't let him be destroyed.

As the smoke from the blast cleared, Vrak walked forward. He placed his foot down on top of the powerless yellow Ranger.

"That's twice now you've saved my life," he said to her. "It's too bad I don't care about returning favours."

"Where's Quinn?" Gia grunted. Vrak pressed more weight down on her ribs and then pointed to the top of the cliff that lined the quarry.

"She's been here the whole time."

At the top of the cliff stood a young woman. Gia, Robo-Knight, and the Rangers all looked up and they couldn't believe what they saw. Vrak turned back to Gia and smirked.

"She works for me."

"What did you do?"

Vrak snapped his fingers as Quinn jumped down and stood before him. Troy and the other Rangers were up on their feet, unsure of what to do. Robo-Knight held up his blaster to shoot and then lowered it.

Quinn held up a hand. Vines grew out from the dirt and wrapped themselves tightly around Robo-Knight. He dropped his blaster and fell to his knees.

"What's going on?" Jake asked as he watched the vines lift Robo-Knight into the air and carried him over to Vrak.

"Break out of this, guardian," Vrak taunted the robot, who shook his head.

"I cannot harm the earth."

"Seriously?" Gia cried. Vrak kicked her, rolling her back towards her teammates. By the time they helped her up, he, Robo-Knight, and Quinn were gone


	85. Rescue The Baby

Mike paced back and forth in the living room. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew it was possible it was true. He had seen stranger in his time. But he didn't want to believe it. He couldn't bring himself to believe it.

"You let the monster get away?" he asked Troy. While the rest of the Rangers had gone home to rest after the battle, Troy went to explain what was happening to Mike and Emily. He figured they deserved an update on the mission to rescue their daughter.

"Vrak's good," Troy shrugged his shoulders, "He had a plan in mind and he manipulated us all…"

"I don't give a damn!" Mike punched a hole in the wall, causing Troy to jump and take a step back. Felix screamed as his father raised his voice. Emily hugged her son to her chest and then touched Mike's arm.

"Remember how many times Serrator fooled us? Some of these monsters are good at what they do, Mike. We just… we need to give them a little more time."

Mike took in a deep breath to calm himself down. Emily was worried, and if he was worked up she would continue to worry. He wrapped one arm around her and held her close before turning back to Troy.

"Your friend, Gia," he said, "You said she mentioned something about our daughter being…"

"I don't know how Vrak did it," Troy nodded his head, "but what we saw… the person Vrak implied was your daughter, she was definitely not a baby."

Troy put his hand on Mike's shoulder. He looked to both parents and tried to be as comforting as possible.

"We'll get her back, I promise. No matter what it takes, rescuing her is our first priority."

"Please," Emily whispered. She kept Felix close to her chest, holding him gently, but tightly. "We can't lose another one."

"Another…"

"Just get her back," Mike interrupted Troy. "Don't you dare step into this house again unless you have our daughter."

"She'll be home soon," it was a promise Troy hoped he could keep. He apologized once more to the Samurai and then went home. If he was late, his mother would really start to ask questions. Already he had missed a full day at school. He was sure she had gotten a call and she was waiting to ask him all about it.

-Megaforce-

"That looks painful," Emma hissed as she and Gia hid in the bathroom. Gia's parents were home, but surprisingly enough hadn't said or done anything about the fact that both girls had missed a full day at school, and when they did get home, they hurried up the stairs without making an attempt to explain. Emma wouldn't question it and instead dug out the first aid kit she and Gia had stocked and hidden in the bathroom. Gia pulled off her shirt and looked down at the burns on her chest.

"The painful part is that I got this saving Vrak's ass," Gia muttered. "Robo-Knight doesn't hold back."

"He doesn't get it," Emma nodded her head and started to rub a disinfectant on the burns, causing Gia to hiss and pull away. "Stay still."

"What's not to get?" Gia asked. "He's supposed to protect the Earth. Aren't we part of the Earth?"

"It's… complicated, I guess," Emma finished cleaning out the burns and started to cut the bandage, "Look, I'm all for saving humanity and the planet…"

"But…?"

"I kind of agree with the big furball and blob face," Emma looked up to Gia guiltily, "Those mutants are our creations. We've been poisoning the Earth for centuries now, and no one cares enough to do anything about it. If Earth were human, we would be a cancer. A bad one."

"Not another…"

"Gia, I'm serious," Emma pressed the bandage down on Gia's burns and pushed a little harder than necessary so Gia would take her seriously, "We're doing a damn good job destroying our own planet. All Vrak and those mutants want to do is speed up the process. I wouldn't be surprised if, once we and Robo-Knight destroy the aliens and the mutants, he turns on us and tries to wipe out humanity."

"That's still no excuse for not giving a damn about Quinn," Gia muttered. "If we really are a cancer then fine, we're the bad guys, but Quinn's got nothing to do with that. She's a baby! Robo-Knight should be trying to protect her. At the very least, he shouldn't be shooting her."

"You care?"

"Of course I care…"

"No, like, you really care," Emma smiled, "You're really determined about saving Quinn."

"Serena…"

"Forget that she's Serena's niece," Emma shook her head, "If Vrak just took any baby from the street."

"Yeah, I'd want to save her."

"It's nice," Emma finished with the bandages and started to pack up the first aid kit. Gia pulled her shirt back on and turned to her best friend.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's making you stronger," Emma turned to Gia, "Don't take this the wrong way, Gia, but between you and me, that tough girl thing is all an act. Since Cliff, you've been vulnerable."

"Are you calling me a baby?"

"Not without reason," Emma shook her head, "What Cliff did, I mean, yeah, you've needed a lot of coddling and protecting. It's nice to see you're finally able to stand up for someone else. Someone who is very fragile. The fact that you care so much just makes you … stronger."

"You're lucky I love you," Gia muttered. She made sure her shirt covered the bandages so her parents wouldn't ask any questions. Emma looked to her with a smile.

"I don't mean any of that in a bad way. It's a good thing. I mean, look at all you've done since Cliff. You stood up to Jordan for me and you took down Michaela before she could hurt Jake. Now, you're pretty much taking it upon yourself to protect and rescue a baby you don't even really know. You're coming back," Emma threw her arms around her best friend and held her in a tight hug.

Gia groaned as Emma squeezed a little too tightly, but returned the gesture with a little smile.

"Let's just hope I'm back before something worse than Vrak and Robo-Knight decide to threaten something more vulnerable than a baby," she joked. "Jordan wasn't too dangerous, and Michaela was mean, but Robo-Knight and Vrak are about as much as I can take."

-Megaforce-

Noah was hoping that if he snuck into the house and got up to his bedroom before his parents knew he was home, he could pretend he had taken a sick day. But he had no such luck. As soon as he walked through the front door his parents were waiting for him. His father was tapping his foot.

"So, your mother and I got this strange message on the answering machine today, Noah. Care to explain why you decided to skip out on school today?"

"I…" Noah racked his brain for an excuse good enough, but he couldn't think of any. His parents were smart. They were bound to know he was lying.

"We've also gotten this in the mail," his mother held up report card. Noah groaned. He had forgotten all about it. Halfway through the semester, the school sent out a progress report, so that students and their parents would know how well they were doing in classes, and where improvements could be made. Noah took a quick class at his marks and sighed. They had all dropped substantially.

It wasn't technically his fault. Between saving the world, bonding with his teammates, and dealing with all the Ranger and personal business that came with the spandex, Noah had less time to study. His marks were still in the eighties, which meant they were still very high compared to most of the other students in his class, but they had dropped from the previous semester and the years before that.

And it wasn't like he was taking subjects that were hard for him. Noah was a very smart young man. He had never struggled in school, and both his parents had enough resources at home in case he did start to struggle. He had no excuse to explain why his marks were falling.

"If you're looking to get into a good college, you need to bring these marks back up," his father warned him. "No one's impressed to see grades dropping. No one's impressed to see poor attendance. What's going on with you, Noah?"

"I… uh…"

"And what's that?" his mother grabbed his chin and turned his face, revealing a couple of bruises on his cheek and down his neck. Then she looked at his arms. They were also heavily bruised, "Noah!"

"It's nothing…"

"Is it that Gia girl again? The one you've been hanging out with who…"

"She never hit me," Noah groaned loudly and hated the school for having called his parents when they assumed it was Gia who had beaten him during lunch time. Noah tried to tell his parents Gia hadn't touched him, but he never bothered to tell them about Cliff. They didn't know Gia personally, and he didn't think they needed to know he had gotten involved with someone so crazy. Of course, they knew story, but they didn't know that Noah had tried to keep Cliff from taking Gia away from school on a "lunch date."

"Then someone else. Just name them, Noah, and I'll let the school…"

"Can't you just leave it alone?" Noah groaned. He gave his report card to father and sighed loudly, "I'll work on getting my grade up, I promise."

"Noah, if someone's bullying me…"

"My friend Troy's just teaching me some martial arts."

"And the missing school part?" his father asked him, "Son, this isn't like you. You love school."

"I'm sorry. Just, drop it, please," Noah stormed up the stairs. His father turned to his mother and sighed.

"Jake…"

"C'mon, Jake's a good boy."

"I don't doubt it," Noah's father said, "but he's always been a bit rebellious. What if that's rubbing off on Noah? This could ruin our son's chances at getting into a great college!"

Noah's father started for the kitchen, "I'm going to call the Hollings. We'll see if they have this problem, then we'll take it from there."


	86. Baby Quinn

Gia couldn't sleep well as another night went by without any news on Quinn. She had no idea where Vrak could have taken her or Robo-Knight, so could only wait for him to make another move, but waiting felt like the wrong thing. She needed to be doing something. Despite what Gia had seen in the last battle, Quinn was still a baby. She needed to be saved.

Deciding enough was enough, she pulled herself out of bed and snuck down to Emma's room. She didn't knock, worried it would wake her parents, and walked right up to Emma's bed. She shook her best friend awake.

"We've got to do something."

Emma rolled over and checked the time, "It's three in the morning."

"Emma, every minute wasted is a minute where Quinn could be dead. Vrak made it clear, he want Robo-Knight. What if he's done with her?"

"Gia…"

"You said it yourself. Vrak wanted Quinn for a reason. What if it was just to draw us and Robo-Knight out so he could capture Robo-Knight?"

"We can talk to Gosei," Emma nodded and climbed out of bed slowly, "Maybe there's something we can do to speed up the process. Why don't you…"

"Jake? I know it's early but…"

"Call the boys," Emma chuckled to see her friend was one step ahead of her.

-Megaforce-

By the time Troy got to the base, Gia was already screaming at Gosei and Tensou for something. Truth be told, Troy was still a little groggy from having to get up at such an earlier hour. He gave himself a light tap on the cheek to wake himself up and then turned to Noah.

"What did I miss?"

"Gosei's giving Gia shit," Noah said, "Naturally, she's not taking it."

"What happened?"

"Gosei and Tensou stopped searching for Quinn and are focusing all their energy on looking Robo-Knight. Gia's pissed and let it slip that she'd be glad to see Vrak destroy Robo-Knight."

"I've got to say, I agree with her," Jake piped in then shrugged his shoulders when the boys gave him strange looks. "C'mon, guys, I know you weren't there, but he pointed a gun at a baby. If Gia hadn't of shot at him, Quinn would be dead for sure. Robo-Knight's too much trouble. I can't say I'd miss him if he never came back."

"Enough!" Gosei roared and wind blew through the command center, knocking all the Rangers off their feet. "Robo-Knight is an ally! He is a member of your team, and it is your responsibility to help him. If he is in danger, it is your mission as Rangers and as his teammates to…"

"Teammates?" Jake picked himself up from the floor and glared at Gosei, "He's hurt Gia twice now! You get what you give!"

"Robo-Knight is a valuable member of the team. In future battles, you will need him. For now, you must concentrate on getting him out of Vrak's hands and…"

"No," Gia shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest, "No. We protect this planet and the people on it. Vrak's got Quinn which means she's in danger. You can build another robot. You can't replace a child."

Gia turned to leave. Emma and Jake were right behind her. Troy hesitated. Robo-Knight was a teammate, but he remembered the promise he had made to Mike and Emily, and Gia was right, there was no replacing a child. He looked to Gosei.

"We'll look for Robo-Knight once the kid is safe," he said. "If it were me Vrak had taken, I'd want the kid safe first. Noah, you coming?"

Noah turned to Gosei, and then looked to Troy, Jake, Emma, and Gia. Then he nodded his head. Just as the team was about to leave, Tensou piped up.

"Oh…"

"Not now, Tensou."

"But Gia," he rolled over to the yellow Ranger and blocked her path. Then he held up a piece of paper for her, "I haven't had time to look into it much, so maybe I'm wrong, but there's been a strange reading on this site for several hours now. Maybe it's worth looking into."

"Thanks, Tensou," Gia took the paper and gave the little robot a smile. Then she said, loud enough so Gosei could hear, "Someone knows what he's doing. C'mon guys. Let's have Quinn back by morning."

-Megaforce-

Emily was up again on this night. She couldn't sleep without Quinn, and neither could Felix. The boy had been able to put up with one night without his sister, but a second was too much. Any time his mother tried to walk him near the crib he would start to scream. There would be no sleeping without his sister.

Emily wrapped her son in his sister's blanket, hoping that would offer him some comfort, and then walked around the house, bouncing him gently in her arms. It was the only way he would rest.

Mike was up as well, and he felt like he was losing his mind. With his Samuraizer and his Symbol Power, he tried his best to keep track of the Rangers and find an energy reading on Quinn, but there wasn't anything else he could do. He had to trust in the five teens who had sworn to bring back daughter.

"Can you hold him?" Emily asked and held out Felix for Mike. The former green Ranger nodded his head and took his young son in his arms. Emily then took a seat on the couch and hugged her knees to her chest.

"What do you think that Vrak guy did to her?" Emily turned to Mike, "If she's a teenager, he must have done something. Do… do you think it's permanent?"

"It must be a spell."

"She's Quinn, no matter how old she is but… but I want my baby. If… if she's hurt; if she's missed out on being a kid… Mike… I can't do this again. I can't lose another one. Not like this…"

Mike shifted Felix around so he was holding him with one arm, and pulled Emily in closer.

"Shh. It's going to be okay. We'll figure this out. No matter what happened, it'll be okay."

-Megaforce-

Tensou's findings led the Rangers away from the city. They were somewhere on a long stretch of highway, with nothing around them for miles. Harwood County was behind them, and Mariner Bay was about an hour's drive away still. Between those two cities was nothing but unused space. The grass was long, the plants in the field were overgrown, and the trees stretched up for miles. Unless they were travelling, no one came here.

"Tensou said here," Gia looked down at the paper in her hand, then bunched it into a ball and tossed it aside. Emma couldn't stop herself from picking it up and putting it in her back to recycle it later.

"He said there was a strange energy reading here," Noah reminded Gia, "That doesn't mean it's Vrak and Quinn."

"And Robo-Knight," Emma said. "Not that I'm a huge fan of the guy, but Gosei made it clear he wants the robot back, and he's kind of the one who gives us the power cards so…"

"We'll make sure they're both safe," Troy promised. "But for now we have a look around. If anyone sees anything unusual just let me know. Noah, you come with me. Jake, you stick with the girls."

"Where is Noah?" Jake looked around for his best friend, who had been standing beside him only seconds before. Suddenly, he felt something hit his ankle. He jumped, let out a scream, and backed into Gia. "SNAKE!"

"Your Zord is a snake," Gia pushed the black Ranger away and rolled her eyes, "You can't tell me you're scared of your own Zord."

"My Zord, no," Jake shook his head, "but when the real thing sneaks up on me, yeah, I get scared."

"Only it's not a snake," Emma knelt to see what exactly had touched Jake. If it was a snake, she wanted to know what kind lived out in this field so she could maybe one day come back and take a few pictures of it. However, it wasn't a snake she found. Instead when she pointed her flashlight at the ground she saw it was Noah, wrapped up tightly in the tall grass. Vines, like the ones that had captured Robo-Knight, held him still and were squeezing his neck, keeping him from crying out. Emma pulled on the grass and Troy used a pocket knife he carried with him to cut away the vines. Noah sat up and touched his throat, "Thanks, guys."

"How does that happen?" Emma asked him.

"Something grabbed me," Noah looked down at his feet and he could see the grass moving. However, there was no wind. "Something really strange is going on here."

"Jake!" Gia cried and shoved the black Ranger into the ground seconds before a large boulder flew over him. He looked up in terror as the boulder passed and then he was helped up to his feet by Gia and Troy.

"Who threw that?"

"It's coming back!" Emma shouted and the Rangers all had to duck to avoid being taken out by the large rock.

"That's the biggest boomerang I've ever seen!" Jake cried out and looked up, over the tall grass to see what could have possibly tossed a rock that size. He saw something moving in the distance, jumped to his feet, and went after it. He morphed as he ran, summoned his axe, and when he was close to his target he swung.

"Got you!" he cried as he watched his opponent fall back into the grass. He heard the other Rangers running up behind him. Gia raced past him and cleared away the grass to have a look at their mysterious attacker. She aimed her flashlight down and then gasped.

"QUINN!"

Suddenly, Quinn disappeared, and the Rangers were knocked off their feet by a sudden earthquake. When it stopped, they heard giggling and looked up.

"You can't destroy me that easily."

"No way," Jake shook his head and slowly got up. "Quinn, we're here to help you. We're the good guys!"

"Whatever Vrak did to you, we can help," Gia insisted. "We'll get you back to your parents. Back home, where you're safe."

"Hm," Quinn stopped and pretended to think for a moment before she shook her head and held her hand out, "No."

With a flick of her wrist, another large boulder appeared from thin air and was shot at the Rangers. They jumped out of the way, barely missing the boulder as it flew past them and crashed into the ground.

"Quinn! Stop it!" Gia rushed to her feet and lunged for Quinn. She tried to grab her, to hold her still, but the grass grew up from the ground and wrapped around her ankles and wrists, and they were strong enough to hold her back. Gia struggled for a moment, then turned around and saw the other Rangers were trapped like her.

"Oh look," Quinn waved her hand and put all the Rangers together in a pile before thick roots grew from the ground and formed a cage around them. Quinn looked in to the cage with a smile, "Five Rangers, all caught at once. Master Vrak would be so proud. Maybe I should show him."

The cage lifted from the ground and levitated behind Quinn as she walked across the wide open field. When she reached what appeared to be a trap door, she opened it and stepped inside. The cage that housed the Rangers squeezed its way inside, crushing them until they were all through.

"I didn't mean that," Jake muttered as he pulled his hand away from Gia's chest.

"Shh. Keep them distracted," Gia whispered to him before she slipped through the holes in the cage. She hit the ground with a thud and then quickly scurried behind a boulder before Quinn could see she had escaped. She poked her head out and saw Quinn take the others into what looked like the main room. Quietly, she made her way over and peeked beyond the wall.

Robo-Knight win a cage and on his knees. Even though he was a robot, he looked very weak. For now, that was not Gia's concern. She couldn't care less what happened to her robotic teammate. All she wanted was to get Quinn home safe and sound.

Vrak saw Quinn entering the room with the Rangers and a smile lit up his face. She placed the cage that held them into a stronger, metal cage, like the one that held Robo-Knight, and then turned to Vrak.

"I caught them all. It was too easy."

Vrak turned to the Rangers, "I knew you'd come looking for the girl. It was only a matter of time."

"What did you do to her?" Troy demanded and grabbed the bars of the cage, putting his team behind him. Vrak looked right at the red Ranger.

"I sensed power and I had to use it," Vrak shrugged his shoulders and smirked, "This child you've come for has a strong connection to the Earth, and I couldn't resist the opportunity to have the very thing you're trying to defend destroy you. Imagine the irony!"

"And Robo-Knight?" Noah asked and gestured to the cage, "What do you want with him?"

"I can convert him into my warrior. Once his power is drained, I can reprogram him to fight on my side. I can use him to force the rest of your planet to bow down at my feet."

Gia wasn't done listening, but her ears picked up on another sound. This underground hideout seemed just as complicated as the one that housed the mutants. There were many corridors and little rooms. Vrak had chosen the biggest for his plan, but Gia was sure he had hidden something else in another part.

She made sure to cross the doorway undetected, and then followed the sound around a few corners. As she got closer, she could make out what she was hearing. It sounded like a baby crying.

"No way," Gia whispered and slowly poked her head around the corner. The two mutants that had kidnapped Emma were in the room, and they were looking over what appeared to be an incubator, which was the source of the crying. Inside the incubator, Gia saw Quinn. The little girl was hooked up to machines by wires, some of which were simply stuck on her skin to monitor her heart and breathing patterns (or so Gia assumed), while many more of the wires were connected to needles which had been inserted into Quinn, and they seemed to be draining something from her. Either way, whatever they were doing, Quinn was screaming loudly. Gia knew very little about babies, but there were certain cries that just pained her to hear, that were different from regular cries, and this was one of them.

The big mutant smashed the wall, "She's been fed. What more could this disgusting creature want?"

Gia held up her blaster, "What did you do to her? Is that…"

"Get her!" the big mutant cried to the blob.


	87. Bringing Home Baby

Jake looked out to the cage where Robo-Knight was being held. He could see his power was almost completely depleted, and that was all Vrak needed before converting the robot. As much as he didn't like his supposed new teammate, he didn't want to have to worry about another villain coming after him and his friends. At the very least, he could trust Robo-Knight wasn't actively trying to destroy humans. They simply got in his way.

"We've got to do something," Jake turned back to his team, "I hate the guy, I made that clear, but at least he's kind of on our side."

"We can't afford to let Vrak turn him against our environment," Noah agreed.

"Gosei said Robo-Knight can learn," Troy said and glanced over at the cage, "We've got to reach out to him, teach him something. Maybe we'll be able to get through to him."

"Before what?" Emma asked, "He's almost gone. Vrak's surely going to wipe his memory. Maybe this is all for nothing."

"We've got to try something," Troy looked at her, "Never surrender."

He turned to the cage and quietly called for Robo-Knight's attention while Vrak kept himself occupied with his computers. Quinn had disappeared into thin air after leaving the Rangers in the cage, so she wasn't a concern for now. Robo-Knight, hearing Troy's voice, looked up.

"We'll get you out of there," Troy promised him. Robo-Knight shook his head.

"Risking yourselves for me would be idiotic."

"Now we agree on something," Jake muttered before turning to the Robot, "Alright, look Tin-Man, it's obvious we don't get along, but we have a common goal. Vrak's the enemy."

"Those who threaten the Earth are enemies."

"Right," Jake nodded, "So look, we don't have to be a team, but at the very least, can we work together? We won't get in your way, and you'll stop shooting at us and putting humans in danger."

"A common goal?"

"We're all trying to protect this planet," Troy said, "But if we really want to be efficient, we need to learn to work together. Do you think you can do that? Can we be allies?"

Robo-Knight shook his head, "No. I work alone. I do not need…"

"Dude, right now you need us. Vrak's got you hooked up to some machine that'll drain you of all your energy, then he's going to turn you into his Robo-Minion. You'll be destroying this planet instead of saving it. Is that what you want?"

"I need to protect this planet."

"Exactly. You're a robot, so there's only so much you can do, but Vrak can't reprogram us. Just trust us to get you out of here and keep you on track with protecting the world. We're only trying to help."

Robo-Knight could feel he was getting weaker. He could barely stand anymore. Though he was programmed to work on his own, he knew he had no choice but to agree with the humans who, at the very least, seemed to have the best interest of the planet in mind. They were right; they did share a common goal.

"We're the good guys, Vrak and those mutants are bad," Jake said, "C'mon, Robo-Dude, what do you say?"

"Help me. Please."

"Music to my ears," Jake smirked and he turned to Troy. The red Ranger focused all his attention on Vrak.

"You're not getting away with this," he called out to the prince of evil. Vrak turned to the cages and smirked.

"I've got all of you Rangers trapped, and it's only a matter of time before I turn this powerful machine into my own weapon. Do you really believe there's a way you can stop me now?"

"We never give up," Troy nodded his head and grabbed the bars of the cage, "You've seriously underestimated the power of humans."

Emma looked up at Troy and then around for a way out. It was then she noticed there was someone missing. She turned to Noah, "Gia…?"

"I didn't want to say anything," Noah whispered, "Vrak thinks he's got us all. Let's just hope, wherever she's gone, she can help us.

-Megaforce-

Gia hit the rock wall and gasped as the air escaped her lungs. As she struggled to catch her breath, she saw the big mutant Bluefur coming towards her.

They were strong. Stronger than she had imagined, and with the baby nearby she couldn't risk anything too dangerous. She didn't want any harm coming to Quinn. Bluefur grabbed her in his big arms and started to squeeze her tightly.

"There's nothing you can do for this child," he laughed in her ear, "You're no match for us mutants. Once we take care of you Rangers, nothing's going to stand in our way."

Gia struggled to breathe, and struggled to free herself from Bluefur's arms. She could hear Quinn was crying and knew the little girl, her parents, and her team were all counting on her.

"_It's nice to see you're finally able to stand up for someone else. Someone who is very fragile. The fact that you care so much just makes you… stronger."_

Emma's words echoed in her head as spots appeared in her vision. When Emma first said them, Gia hadn't been sure how to take them. Emma was her best friend, and would never try to hurt her, but Gia wasn't sure what Emma meant. Now, though, with Bluefur and his partner Bigs threatening the baby, and Gia as the only person who could help, she knew what Emma meant. If this had just been another regular mission, she'd have given up long ago. Bluefur and Bigs would have overpowered her and likely sent her back to the cage with the others. However, she was determined to protect Quinn. The baby needed to be saved. Gia couldn't give up. She wouldn't let herself.

She pulled her elbow back and hit Bluefur just below his ribs. He dropped her to catch his breath and Gia shot at him with her blaster. The close range made her shot all the more powerful, and it knocked the big monster into the wall. He was down, but not out, but Gia had some time.

"Tiger Claw!" he summoned her weapon and swiped at Bigs, tearing him down. It wouldn't keep him off her back for long, but it was just enough time for her to get to the incubator holding Quinn. She stood before it protectively.

"What is this?" she growled to the mutants as they helped each other to their feet. She saw there were wires hooked up to Quinn, some penetrating through her soft skin. It looked painful, and judging from Quinn's cries, she was very uncomfortable.

"Vrak's using her power," Bigs explained. "She's too fragile to send out into battle so we've put her energy into our own warrior. Vrak's decided to go with a creature that looks like you humans to throw you off just enough to give him an edge."

Gia growled as she faced the mutants. They seemed ready to attack, angered she had shown up to try and ruin Vrak's plan. Gia was angrier. The monsters could do whatever they wanted to her. They could even try and get their way with her teammates – but threaten a baby and harm an innocent child was not something they were ever going to try again. With a loud cry, she rushed back into the fight and summoned her Tiger Claw. Bigs and Bluefur were strong, but Gia kept going, smashing her Tiger Claw into them and she landed blow after blow until finally they were on the ground. They weren't quite out cold, but they would be down for long enough. Gia powered down and turned to the incubator. At the very least, it would probably calm Quinn to see a friendly human face.

"I know, I'm scared too," she said as she lifted the lid. Quinn was kicking and screaming, making it very clear she was not happy in her position, and Gia couldn't blame her. She touched one of the wires and followed it to the computer.

Simply tearing them out was out of the question. Gia had no idea what Vrak and the mutants had done to harness Quinn's powers and so wasn't sure what would happen if she broke the connection. If she smashed the machine and destroyed it, it was likely she would hurt or even kill Quinn. Bigs and Bluefur were beginning to move, so she knew she didn't have a lot of time. She walked back to Quinn in the incubator and took the little girl in her arms.

"I'll figure this out, I promise," she touched the wires again and looked back to the computer, wishing she had brought Noah with her. She knew he would be able to figure this out in minutes, possibly seconds. She wasn't sure she had any more time than that. She pressed a couple of buttons on the machine and looked at screen. Everything was just a jumble of words and symbols. She had no idea what any of them meant. She wanted an answer, anything that would promise Quinn would be okay.

Suddenly, she was grabbed about the waist and lifted from the ground. Bluefur held her, squeezing her tightly. Bigs walked up to the machine, hit several buttons, and suddenly the older Quinn stood before Gia.

"How did you get away?" she asked. Gia struggled in Bluefur's grasp but kept her gaze on Quinn.

"This isn't you. Look!" she gestured to the incubator. Quinn turned around and looked down at the baby.

"So?"

"You're just a baby! You're hurt! You're scared!"

"I'm weak!" Quinn shook her head. She snapped her fingers and Bluefur dropped Gia. The yellow Ranger hit the ground and before she could do anything, vines grew up from the dirt and wrapped tightly around her arms. Quinn stood over Gia. "I'm the most powerful Samurai in existence. I've inherited the symbols of the Earth and the Forest. Everything you see. Everything you touch once belonged to me and my ancestors. You've ruined everything!"

"So you're siding with them?" Gia glanced to the mutants for a moment. "Now that you've got control of your powers, you're going to side with the monsters who want to lay waste to the Earth."

"We're going to create a new Earth. A better Earth…"

"Not your Earth! You've been lied to…"

"That's enough!" Bigs yelled and he knocked Gia over the head with his staff. Quinn chuckled, seeing her opponent hit the ground again. Gia groaned and tried to get up, but it was hard when she was dizzy and her arms were bound to her sides. She managed to get to her knees and looked up at Quinn. By now, she was desperate to try anything.

"I know what it's like," Quinn was upset because of what was happening to the Earth. If it was true that she did have mastery over the land and the earth, then her powers were getting weaker as man progressed with their technological devices. What was once a natural, beautiful landscape had been replaced by concrete jungles of tall skyscrapers instead of majestic trees. The once fresh, clean air was now filled with pollution, which was not only harmful to humans, but to the plants as they breathed in the harmful poison and took in polluted water. Quinn did seem like a powerful Samurai, with a strong control over her element, but the more man took over, the less connected she could feel with her powers and with herself. She was losing herself. Gia knew exactly how that felt.

"No you…"

"They think they can run you over. They want what you have, and without any regard to how it might affect you, they just take and take, and they do whatever they want until there's nothing left. They're using you, Quinn."

"Yeah, all you other humans…"

"These guys too," Gia gestured to Bigs and Bluefur, who were moving in closer to her, trying to shut her up. Gia's time was short, and bound like she was, she couldn't stop them. "My friends and I want to help. I want to help you. I'll get you back to your parents. They'll take care of you. You remember them, right? Your parents and… and your aunt! She was a Ranger, right? She fought for this world…"

"Shut up," Bluefur put his hand over Gia's mouth. She looked up pleadingly at Quinn.

Quinn clenched her fists, "Aunt Serena did fight for this Earth. She fought against monsters like… like… like you…"

She looked to Bigs and Bluefur. Though her knowledge of the Nighlok was still very limited due to her real age, she did know about the monsters and about the Samurai's mission. Her grandparents would tell her stories of how the monsters threatened to flood the Earth and turn it into their Netherworld, essentially erasing everything about the planet that Quinn loved. They didn't know she had been listening, believing her to only be a baby who wouldn't understand any of their tales, but having grown so quickly thanks to Vrak gave her this unique chance to remember and understand what they were saying.

"We're not like those other monsters," Bluefur said.

"You are!" Quinn shouted. "You want to turn this world into you own wasteland. You're going to destroy everything with that… with that sludge!"

Quinn pointed to the bucket of slime that sat in the corner of the room. The mutants were away from their factory, which was their main source of pollution in Harwood County, and so they had brought some of their pollution with them, just to recharge in case something were to happen.

"No, human, we're going to…"

"Maybe humans are bad, but it'll still be years before they completely ruin the Earth," Quinn growled. She raised a hand, and a piece of the rock wall behind her was torn out and launched at Bigs. "Humans have a chance to make things right! If I let you win, you'll have everything in ruins in a matter of days! I'll be… my powers, everything my family's ever fought for will be… for nothing!"

"She's fooling you, human," Bluefur said and he lifted Gia to use her body as a shield against Quinn, knowing how powerful his former ally could be. "Never trust a human. All they do is lie!"

Quinn hesitated for a moment and then looked over her shoulder at the incubator. Her true form was still screaming painfully, crying for someone to help. She was weak and vulnerable, dependant on someone else to care for her, but in the time the mutants and Vrak had had her, they had done no such thing. Her parents, humans, had cared for her, and right now it was a human coming to help her.

"Not about this," Quinn traced a symbol on the ground and the vines holding Gia fell away from her and wrapped themselves tightly around Bluefur. Gia dropped to her knees. Quinn knelt beside her.

"Destroy the console."

"What?"

"Destroy my console," she pointed to the computer connected to the incubator. "It'll break the connection between me and, well, me, and I'll be back to myself. Then do the same thing with your Robot… thing. Vrak's draining his energy, but if you break it in time, all his energy will go back to him, and he'll be strong enough to break your friends free."

"You mean free Robo-Knight?" Gia shook her head, "Quinn, he tried to kill you!"

"Not intentionally. He's misguided. He wants to protect the earth just like us."

"Yeah, but…"

"Would you rather have him fighting against you? If he points his gun at babies when he's on your side, imagine what he'll do if he's against you."

"Alright, point take. So I just smash them?"

"Smash them, get out of here, and get me home," Quinn nodded. "I want my parents."

"I'll get you home," Gia promised. She morphed instantly, summoned her Tiger Claw and smashed it into the computer. Behind her, the older Quinn disappeared, and the baby screamed even louder. Gia lifted the incubator, gently unhooked all the wires, and held the baby gently in her arms. Quinn started to settle almost immediately. Gia hugged her close and raced into the room where Vrak was holding her friends and Robo-Knight.

She saw Vrak standing by and working on a console. She assumed that was the one Quinn wanted her to destroy, and before Vrak could know she was in the room, she plunged her Tiger Claw into it. Robo-Knight let out a cry while Vrak turned to Gia. She looked at him. There was nothing she could do to stop him if he chose to attack. Not while she was holding a baby in her arms. And when she looked over to the others she saw they were still trapped inside their cage.

Vrak cried out angrily, "Yellow Ranger? How dare you? The drain was almost complete!"

"You have one chance," Vrak heard over his shoulder and turned around. His eyes widened as Robo-Knight stepped out of his cage and pointed a blaster at him, "Surrender now, or be destroyed."

Vrak smirked. He stood before Gia and as Bigs and Bluefur ran into the room, having recovered and freed themselves from Quinn's attack. He held up a hand to stop him. He looked at Robo-Knight, "Go on, finish me off now. We both know you want to."

"No! Stop!" Troy shouted to Robo-Knight, "You're going to hit Gia and Quinn."

"Defending the planet comes first. I must destroy the… bad guys," Robo-Knight put his finger on the trigger, gave it another second and fired. At the last minute, he switched his target from Vrak over to Bluefur and Bigs.

Vrak jumped out of the way, thinking he was Robo-Knight's target, and he disappeared. Gia used her body to shield Quinn, knowing Vrak wouldn't let himself be destroyed so easily, she could only assume she was going to be hit.

Robo-Knight's attack hit the ground just under Bluefur's and Bigs' feet, causing them to cry out and race off. Robo-Knight shot at them again to make sure they were gone. And then he turned to the cage holding the Rangers.

"I can get you out," he said and grabbed the bars. With nothing but his hands, he bent the bars, opening up a gap wide enough for the Rangers to slip out. Jake and Emma hurried over to help Gia up, while Troy turned to Robo-Knight.

"That was smooth, what you did. Thanks, Robo-Knight."

"We share a common goal and a common enemy," Robo-Knight nodded his head. "I work alone, but having help can have its benefits."

"Let us help you," Noah insisted, "Let us teach you how to work as a team. What it means to be a real hero. We can…"

"I work alone," Robo-Knight said and with that, he turned and walked off. Noah turned to Troy.

"So… is he…"

"I don't think he's a threat to us anymore," Troy shrugged his shoulders, "But we'll continue to keep an eye on him. Maybe Gosei's right. Maybe he can be useful."

"I really wish he would stick around," Noah said, "I'd love to see what kind of technology is inside of him. He bent those bars like they were noodles, he can learn, he can interact with humans. He's amazing!"

On the other end of the room, Gia was helped to her feet by Jake and Emma as they asked her if she was okay. She nodded her head and then looked down at the little girl in her arms.

"We should get her home."

Jake nodded then looked to Quinn curiously, "I thought Vrak aged her. What happened? What did he do?"

Quinn had stopped screaming now that she was comfortable in warm arms, but she still looked very unsettled. Gia shook her head.

"I just want to get her home. All that matters now is that she's safe."

Gia powered down then took off her jacket and wrapped it gently around Quinn to keep her feeling warm and safe. She looked up at the rest of her team, "C'mon, guys, before those freaks come back."


	88. Auntie Gia

Gia did her best to keep Quinn safe and comfortable on the way home, and refused to let anyone else touch her. She had no idea why her protective instincts were so strong for Quinn, but they were. All she wanted was to know that the little girl was safe, and the only way she could be sure of that was if she kept her in her arms.

The Rangers walked up the steps that led to Emma's old house and knocked on the door. By all means, they had every right to walk in, but they decided to wait for an answer. Mike opened the door, saw Troy, and his look soured.

"I said…"

"I know," Troy nodded his head and gestured over to Gia. Mike looked over and all he could see was his daughter. He stumbled out to the porch, took his little girl in his arms and hugged her tight. Tears instantly soaked his face. Jake, who was still sporting a bruise from being punched in the face by Mike when they first met, couldn't believe this was the same guy. All the time Quinn had been with Vrak, Mike had been an angry and violent man. Now with his daughter in his arms, he was soft and emotional. Quinn snuggled into her father's arms and cooed happily as she recognized him.

"Thank you so much," he said before leading the Rangers into the house. They were a little roughed up from their rescue. Mike knew they had likely just come from a battle and they would need to rest and get cleaned up. One of the advantages of the Samurai Ranger powers being passed from generations to generation was that he never had to keep secrets about his scars and bruises to his parents. The Megaforce Rangers were just kids with secret identities. He doubted their parents knew. "Come inside, we'll help you get cleaned up."

It was still early in the morning. Mike had only gotten Emily to sleep about a half hour before the doorbell rang. Felix had cried himself to sleep just a couple of hours before that, so the house was very quiet. Mike hugged his daughter to his chest, and then offered her back to Gia. The yellow Ranger took the little girl and cuddled her closely as Mike darted up the stairs to get his wife. He had used Symbol Power to fix up Emily's knee a little bit. It was cheating somewhat, but with Quinn missing, Mike didn't want to have to worry about possibly having to amputate Emily's leg. She could walk on it when aided now thanks to him. However, if he was going to keep the Megaforce Rangers from finding out he was one of them, he needed to treat Emily like her knee was just as bad as they remembered. He woke her up and lifted her out of bed. He carried her gently down the stairs.

"Mike…"

"They're back," Mike smiled as he set her down on the couch then called the Rangers over. They walked in and Gia handed Emily her daughter. Emily started to sob immediately.

"If you ever need anything," Mike look at the teens and Troy especially so the red Ranger knew what he meant.

"We're just glad we could help," Troy insisted.

Gia took a seat beside Emily, "I couldn't do anything too thorough, but I don't think she's hurt. I looked her over on the way here and there are no real bruises or anything. She… she even smiled at me."

Emily grabbed Gia in a tight hug, squishing Quinn between them.

"Thank you," she whispered in Gia's ear, "Thank you, thank you, thank you…"

"As long as she's okay," Gia pulled away from Emily and smiled. Emily looked at her daughter happily and nodded her head. Gia tried to get up, but Emily grabbed her arm.

"What about our talk?" she asked. "I didn't forget. I promised to talk to you about Frankie and…"

"Just… tell me if it gets better or not?"

"You're always going to have to live with what happened," Emily whispered, "Especially what happened to you, but if you work hard at it, it gets better. But you have to want it."

"I do," Gia nodded. Emily pulled her back in for another hug.

"Don't push the people who care about you away. My sister and my friends helped me get over Frankie. Without them, I'd be nothing."

Gia looked over at her group of friends, "Yeah, I know."

"Here," Emily put Quinn in Gia's arms and then tried to get up. Gia shifted Quinn so she held her with one arm and then supported Emily's weight with the other.

"Your knee…"

"Help me upstairs. It's okay."

Gia did as she was asked, after Emily told Mike that she and Gia were going to speak privately. The two yellow Rangers made it up the stairs and into Emma's parents' old bedroom. Felix was sleeping soundly in the crib. Emily sat down on the bed and looked over her son as she told Gia to rest Quinn in the crib.

"Five years ago, I never thought any of this would be possible," Emily said to Gia, "Frankie was my bad boyfriend but the feeling I was nothing started long before that."

"Serena told me you were bullied," Gia said. "She said you were the reason she took the job at school."

"I guess," Emily shrugged her shoulders. "People picked on me from kindergarten. I was never any good at anything. I'm clumsy and uncoordinated, so sports were a nightmare, and I have dyslexia, so I had a really, really hard time learning like the other kids. My school didn't really know how to handle it, and kids… well, they're mean."

"You don't have to tell me," Gia sighed.

"Before I met my real friends, I felt like I wasn't good at… living. All the bad things people said about me… I tried not to let it hurt, but there's only so many times you can hear you're stupid, or worthless, or pathetic before you believe it. Did your boyfriend…?"

Gia nodded her head and she didn't know why, but she could feel her eyes were starting to water. She clutched the side of the crib and looked down at the babies, hoping to hide her face.

"He said no one would ever love me but him. He said I was lucky to have him. I was stupid, ugly, useless…"

"Well, he's wrong. I used to think that too. I used to feel like I wasn't good enough for anyone. I always had this feeling of letting my parents down, letting my sister down, and letting my friends down. It's feeling like there's nothing out there for you that'll make you feel like you're okay," Emily looked up at Gia with a smile, "but there is. One day, if you haven't already, you're going to find something that makes you feel good about yourself. For me, it was martial arts and my friends. And, sooner than you think, you're going to find someone who'll make you feel special."

"Serena said that," Gia whispered. Emily stood up, limped over to Gia and hugged her.

"Because it's true. Mike's a little rough around the edges, but he's so amazing. I bring him home and show him off to the people who used to bully me and they still can't believe he's my husband. Whenever they accuse me of lying, Mike always holds me tight. He's so incredible and he loves me. It's a great feeling, and you're going to know what it's like too. You just have to believe in yourself. You have to want things to get better."

"I do."

"Then it's only a matter of time," Emily pulled away from Gia to smile. She looked up at the yellow Ranger, "Speaking of, Jake's kind of cute."

"Jake and I…"

"You like him, I can tell," Emily smirked. Gia pushed her back on the bed and shook her head.

"Shut up."

"See, you can't even deny it. He likes you too, you know."

"Everyone and their mother knows that," Gia rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine, I like him. I'm just scared."

"Of?"

"Getting hurt. Falling for another… Cliff. Everyone thought he was so great."

"Jake's not going to hurt you," Emily shook her head, then she looked down at Quinn, "I'd love if it Quinn one day found a boy who looked at her the way Jake looks at you. His eyes don't lie. His eyes can't lie. I don't believe eyes can lie."

"I really hope you're right," Gia said. Suddenly the door opened.

"Gia, is everything okay?" it was Jake coming to check on her, but he looked a little rushed. Gia nodded.

"Yeah, Emily and I were just talking. Why?"

"I've got practice."

"So?"

"I didn't want to leave if you weren't okay. Those sons of bitches really came down hard on you so…"

"I'm fine, Jake. And I'll walk home with Emma."

"Make sure you do. I've got to go! Coach is going to kill me if I'm late!" Jake closed the door and hurried off, but he slammed the door a little too hard, waking the babies. Gia rolled her eyes. Emily was smirking from ear to ear.

"He's cute."

"He's such an idiot sometimes," she leaned over to help Emily get the twins back to sleep again, "Sorry…"

"It's okay. Felix missed his sister," Emily held her son up so he could see his sister was back, "Look, Felix. Look who Auntie Gia brought home."

"Auntie Gia?"

"You're family."

"You don't know me."

"I know more than you think," Emily smiled. Then she gestured to the cuts and bruises on Gia's face and arms, "Captors put up a fight?"

"A bit."

"No one else has as many bruises. You all looked a little roughed up, but I've been training in martial arts for a long time. I know when someone's been in a real fight. Here, put Quinn down, I can help you get washed up. I know lots of tricks so your parents won't notice."

"Thanks, Emily. For everything. Your help means a lot."

"You saved my daughter's life," Emily smiled. "If you ever need anything, no matter what, I'm here for you. I really owe you one."

Gia nodded her head, and couldn't stop her smile from stretching. For some reason, Emily knew exactly what to say to make her feel better. Then, as she helped Emily walk to the bathroom, she noticed her looking up at her.

"What?"

"Smiles suit you."


	89. Excuses Excuses

Noah had to sneak back into his house. He had left in the early hours of the morning without their knowledge, and he was hoping to avoid any unanswerable questions by getting back to his room and pretending he had spent the night. However, again, when he opened the front door his parents were standing there and waiting for him.

"We thought it would take a little more time before you tried this again," his father sounded disappointed. Noah looked to where his parents were standing.

"Do you just wait there for me to come home?"

"Not funny, Noah," his mother scolded him, "What's going on with you? Where have you been all night?"

"Your mother heard you sneaking out this morning."

"I'm sorry, I'll just…"

"What's happening to you, Noah?" his mother's expression softened, "Do we need to talk about anything? Are the other students picking on you? Are you having trouble with a teacher?"

"Trouble with the girls?"

"What about these monster attacks?" his mother added, "Sweetheart, your father and I want to move somewhere safer, but we just can't afford it. I know it's a little scary, but you can always call us if you want a ride anywhere."

"Or if you don't feel safe. You know we'd do anything for you, Noah."

"Mom, dad, I swear, I…" the phone rang, interrupting Noah. His father held up a hand to silence him and went to answer it. His mother hugged him closer.

"You're really worrying us, Noah. And we called Jake's parents. He's doing the same thing. Are you two boys… you know."

"What?"

"Is someone pressuring you to do something you don't want to do?" his mother asked. "Noah, sweetheart, I'm your mother. I'm not going to judge. I just want you healthy…"

"I'm not doing drugs," Noah shook his head, "Look, if you'd just let me explain…"

Suddenly his father came back and for a reason Noah couldn't explain, he hugged him tightly. Then he whispered in his ear, "I'm so proud of you, son."

"What?" Noah asked and pulled away. Mr. Carver held up the phone.

"Gia Moran's parents just called," he said to his wife, and Noah listened closely, finding this to be very unusual. "Noah, Jake, and another friend, Troy, have been helping Gia through… what happened," Mr. Carver explained. "Apparently, Gia had a nightmare and couldn't be calmed."

"After what she's been through, I don't blame her," Mrs. Carver nodded her head, "The poor thing."

"Gia needed her friends around her. Noah hasn't been sneaking off. He's been trying to help her."

"Uh, yeah," Noah nodded his head. It wasn't a complete lie. He did help Gia when he could. "Yeah, Gia's having a really hard time with what happened with her ex-boyfriend. I would have said something to you guys, but Gia really wants to keep the details personal. Everyone already knows too much."

"We'd have kept your secret, Noah," his mother assured him with a loving squeeze. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Gia just needs someone to talk to," Noah said. "Emma kind of gets in over her head, so Jake, Troy, and I help out when we can. I didn't think I was doing anything wrong."

"You're not," Mr. Carver smiled to his son as he placed his hands on his shoulder, "I'm so proud of you."

"We can talk to your teachers about your grades. Maybe if we ask the Morans to help, we'll be able to ask for a couple of make-up tests…"

"It's fine," Noah shook his head, "Gia really made a break-through last night. I'll just work really hard for the rest of the semester."

"That's my boy," Mr. Carver said and then stepped out of the way, "You must be exhausted. Head upstairs. We'll have breakfast ready for you when you're rested."

"Uh, thanks," Noah said and hurried upstairs to his room. Before he could even think about sleeping, he dug through his bag and pulled out his morpher, "Gia? You there?"

"Yeah. Is everything okay?"

"Did you call my parents?"

"I don't know your number."

"Did you tell your parents anything?"

"No. Why?"

"Apparently, they called my parents. I got caught coming in, and just when I thought they were going to give me hell, your parents gave me an out."

"They did?"

"Yeah, and a really good one too," Noah nodded his head and started to get into his pyjamas. "My parents now think I'm sneaking off and falling behind in my school work because I'm being a good friend to you. They're so proud of me, I don't think they're going to question my sudden leaving anymore. As long as I can tell them it's to help you."

"What about the bruises?"

"I told them I was getting lessons from Troy. They believed that."

"That's pretty weird," Gia said. "Emma and I just got home. Mom and dad asked a few questions, but they didn't push it."

"I guess I won't look a gift horse in the mouth," Noah shrugged his shoulders. "Good night."

"Good morning," Gia replied back before hanging up. Noah turned to clock to check the time and groaned. He hated late night missions. Fortunately, it was Saturday.

-Megaforce-

"You're late," Conner said as Jake rushed to the field. He seemed a little dishevelled and very tired, but he had made it.

"I'm so sorry, Coach. I got held up."

"Look, kid, you're part of a team and you've got commitments. A lot of strings were pulled to get you here, and you've got so much potential. I'd hate to see that go to waste because I have to bench you."

"I'll try not to let it happen again," Jake was about to get on the field when Conner grabbed his arm and pulled him back. He pointed the bruise on his cheek.

"What's that?"

Jake touched his face and shrugged, "The reason I'm late."

"You getting into fights?"

"It was just a rough morning."

"Things okay at home?"

"Yeah. Look, I'm really sorry I'm late, Coach, but I'd really like to make it out there and practice. I am committed, I swear."

"Go," Conner nodded and he waited until Jake was distracted with his practice before he picked up his phone. "Dr. O? Yeah, I know it's early but I have a question. What were the signs you said to look out for when looking for a Ranger? I might have one on my team. … I'd think I'd recognize a soccer playing Power Ranger when I see one. He's late to practice, won't give me a proper excuse for his bruises, and though it seems like soccer's his lowest priority, I know that look in his eyes. He really wants to be here. … Yeah, I'll keep an eye on him. … Holling. Jake Holling."


	90. Jake's Priorities

Conner always ended his practices with scrimmage. He divided his team in two and had them play a game. It was just like the real thing, only there were no stakes. Practicing drills and new moves was one thing, but working together as a team an incorporating plays in a real game scenario was even tougher. Conner always wanted his team to be on the ball, and knew this was a great way to make sure they were ready for their next game.

However, Jake was struggling. He had seemed tired at the start of practice, and all the running around and training just made him more exhausted. Conner had his suspicions and didn't want to tire out his suspected Ranger too much.

"Holling," he waved his youngest player over. Jake came over as fast as he could, letting the boys continue with their game. Conner gave him a pat on the back, "You okay out there, kid?"

"Fine, Coach."

"You're tired."

"I'm okay," Jake took a swig of water, "I just had a late night last night."

"Before practice?"

"It was important. Real important, Coach."

"Soccer needs to be…"

"It's always been the most important thing in the world to me," Jake insisted. "Look, I'm tired now, but I swear, when I'm out on the field, nothing's going to hold me back. I won't disappoint you, Coach."

"Sounds good," Conner promised. Then he blew his whistle to end the day, "Alright, boys, pack it up. See you at the game. Remember, practice never stops once you leave the field."

The boys packed up their bags. Jake tried to leave, but Conner's hand remained on his shoulder. The two stood side by side until the field was clear. Conner then turned to Jake.

"I'm not going to ask you about it," Conner said, "But I want you to be as honest with me as you possibly can. Soccer isn't your top priority, is it?"

"I'm committed, Coach…"

"I know you are," Conner nodded his head, "Jake, you've got ways to go before you're my best player, but you're on your way. You remind me a lot of myself when I was your age."

"Really?"

"Soccer was my passion, but sometimes, there's something more important than soccer. I skipped out on practices and even games because, well, something came up."

"Coach, I…"

"Holling, here's how this is going to go. I'm not going to ask what it is, but if you have something that may or may not keep you from attending games in the future, or may cause you to leave the field in the middle of a game, or kick, for no apparent reason…"

"I was saving a baby…"

"Jake, tell me now if you have something more important than soccer that demands your attention. I'll work around it. But if you tell me soccer's the only thing you eat, sleep, and dream about, and then you're late or miss or disappear suddenly from a game, you're cut from my team."

"Coach, please!"

"I don't do this for everyone Jake. I just want honesty."

Jake looked down at his cleats and sighed. His Coach was leaving him with no choice, "There is something more important. I… uh… I have a friend who…"

"I don't need to hear the lies," Conner gave Jake a pat on the shoulder, "I get it. Believe me, I know what you're going through. Keep practicing, Holling. I hope I'll see you at the next game."

"Coach, I swear, I'm committed…"

"I know," Conner smiled at Jake then he picked up his bag, "I trust you, Jake. You're going to be a great player."

"Uh, thanks," Jake whispered. He sat down on the bench and watched his coach leave. He took another swig of his water bottle. Just as he decided it was time to head home, someone sat beside him on the bench. He turned around and saw it was Gia.

"You're here?"

"Wanted to make sure you'd survive. Being up all night saving Quinn, and then coming to practice… is everything okay?"

"Being a Ranger is messing with soccer," Jake shook his head, "Coach knows my head's not in it. That's not good. This is all I have."

"It can't be all you have," Gia said. Jake sighed.

"Gia, you know what my grades look like. I'd be lucky if a college considered me. The only hope I have to get in someplace good is on a soccer scholarship."

"I guess being a Ranger is messing with your grades too, huh?"

"You too?"

"Well… Emma," Gia shrugged her shoulders. "I've never really needed to study much."

"You always have your nose in a book."

"I read ahead," Gia said. She looked to Jake, "So, your grades are slipping, if you're a good enough player…"

"I was late to practice. Last game, you saw, I just ran off and basically gave the other team a goal. Who's to say I'll even show up to practice next time? Or that I'll make the game? Monsters don't check my schedule before they turn up. If Coach thinks I'm not committed and my grades are shit, no scout's ever going to want to recruit me."

"You've got more going for you than just soccer," Gia smiled at Jake. "Look, why don't we meet up after you've showered," Gia smirked and plugged her nose teasingly. "I'll help you catch up in your classes. All of them. You'll ace the quizzes coming up this week."

"That's this week?" Jake groaned. "Dammit!"

"You'll be fine," Gia gave him a warm smile, "You'll know all you need to know by dinner time, I promise."

"Alright, I hope you're right," Jake said. Gia gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder as she got up. He looked to her with a cheeky grin, "So, it's a date?"

"Jake…"

"I'm kidding," Jake chuckled, "Sorta…"

"A friend date, but that still means you're buying."


	91. The Postcard

While Gia went out to the soccer field to check up on Jake and his practice, Emma went to the woods. She rode her bike far out to a small clearing, and then chained it to a tree. She stepped down a rocky path, stumbling slightly until she reached a wide open meadow. Harwood County was known for having plenty of green space. There were large forests that spanned all around the city, the parks were open and green, and it was impossible to find meadows like these anywhere else in California. The space was so wide that when Emma came out here at night, the stars littered the sky, covering nearly every inch of the dark space with their light. It was always so beautiful.

And, when Emma gave it a good thought, she realized this was the only spot in Harwood County that was untouched by pollution. Smog, smoke, and waste didn't reach this far out. People never wanted to venture so deep into the woods, terrified of what they would find. There were no plans to start construction on this land either. For now, it was open, green space, and the only thing that littered it were flowers. Emma sat down in the grass and sighed.

She loved being a Ranger. Though it was a tough job, knowing she was saving the planet made all the bruises worth it. However, the newest monsters, the mutants, had given her something to think about. She wasn't sure what she was trying to protect anymore. Humans were just a cancer to the Earth. If the aliens didn't destroy the planet, humanity would. By being a Ranger, she was only delaying the inevitable.

Her school was trying hard to change that. Chesterfield had recruited her to be the leader of the new eco-club which meant Emma's suggestions for improving the school's recycling and waste management programs would be taken more seriously, but even if that were to take off, it was just one school in one city. It would be years before any changes would be made State-wide, nation-wide, or internationally. By then, with all the alien attacks, and the pollution from people to ignorant to see the destruction they were causing, there would be very little left to save.

Being a Ranger was a lot of pressure, and when she knew the people she was trying to protect were destroying the planet she was hoping to save, it all seemed worthless. With a loud sigh, she reached into her bag and pulled out the postcard her mother had sent her from Paris a little time back.

She hadn't yet read it. She wasn't sure she wanted to. Her parents had abandoned her so they could live out their own dreams. They never truly cared for her the way parents should have cared for their daughter. Emma was happiest in Harwood, but she wished her parents had stayed. She wished she could have been with them.

Even without her responsibilities as a Ranger, moving away would have been unthinkable. Emma loved her home far too much to leave it behind, and she had Gia and the Morans to think about. Even before they had taken her in as one of their own, they had been a huge part of her life. There was no way she could say goodbye to them, and no way she would ever leave Gia behind, especially so soon after Cliff's return. However, being a Ranger had been what had made the decision to leave her parents easier. She couldn't go. She couldn't abandon her duties. Now, the reason she was separated from her parents didn't seem like a good enough reason. She was putting her life in danger to protect people who were essentially harming themselves and the planet they lived on, and she didn't even have the support or the love of her parents. One postcard. One lousy postcard was all her parents had sent her since they dropped her and ran.

She looked at the picture of the Eiffel Tower. She loved Harwood, but had always wanted to travel; to see other sights. She wanted to learn about other cultures, see some of the wonders of the world. Her parents had seen most of the planet by now. Emma had never left Harwood unless it was with the Morans, and she only got to venture as far as the surrounding cities on the coast of California.

She wasn't sure she wanted to read the back of the postcard, but she flipped it around. It was her mother's handwriting. She could recognize it. The message was short. She didn't have much room, but it looked like she had hardly tried to explain herself.

"_Dearest Emma,_

"_No words can express the guilt I feel. You deserved better. Better parents, a better life, and a better goodbye. Facing the truth was hard on me, and I'm sure it was harder for you._

"_Joe and Vanessa will take good care of you. Its years too late, but I hope you'll find the family and the happiness you never had with your father and myself. He loves his job in New York and I've been spending most of my time here in Paris, touring the sights with a friend. He says he'll take me to London next. You'd love this trip, Emma. I'm so sorry._

"_Love, Mom."_

"Hey," Emma jumped when she heard Troy, and looked over her shoulder to see him taking the spot next to her. He was dressed for a jog, so Emma had assumed that once again he had seen her bike and come looking for her. "You shouldn't be this far out by yourself."

Emma shrugged her shoulders, "I feel safe here."

"Me too," Troy nodded, "But anything could happen at any time. If something happened to you, we'd have no idea where to find you. If something happened in town, it would take you too long to get back."

"I just had to think," Emma said and then showed Troy the postcard, "Mom sent this. I guess it's her way of trying."

Troy read over the message quickly and then he sighed and shook his head, "I wouldn't call one postcard trying."

"I guess I'm optimistic."

"Is everything okay at home?"

"Gia's parents are great…"

"Uh, I meant, with your parents," Troy gestured to the letter, "Your mother's in Europe with another man?"

"She goes with dad sometimes, like for anniversaries or second third, fourth honeymoons. Other times, she likes to take a friend. There's this one guy, Oliver, who mom always loves to…"

"Sorry," Troy whispered when he saw his thought was dawning on Emma, "My dad went on a road trip with a female business partner from work. He said it was for business. He never came back."

"So your dad…"

"I live with my mom and step-father. He's been there for me since I was a kid, so he's dad. My birth father is somewhere. I got a post-card too, once. It just said wish you were here."

"Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," Troy shook his head, "That's my problem. Your mom and this guy could just be friends…"

Emma sighed, "You know how, when you want something so badly, you'll kind of imagine an ideal from something that's not it? I guess, I just wanted everything to be okay at home, I never really let myself think that maybe mom is… cheating."

"Maybe it's an open marriage? Maybe your dad knows and he's okay with it. It's the twenty-first century…"

"Or maybe dad's got a mistress," Emma rolled her eyes, balled up the postcard and then shoved it in her bag so it could be recycled later. "It would explain why he's never home. No one's got a meeting at nine o'clock at night."

"Emma…"

"I would catch dad sneaking out of the house when I was younger," Emma said, "Mom would be on a vacation with Oliver or whatever, and dad would send me off to bed at night, and then head out and be gone until morning. He said he had a meeting."

"He'd leave you alone?"

"I was thirteen. Still… I guess."

"It sucks," Troy nodded his head. "Tell me about it."

"When did you make the leap?" Emma turned to Troy and hugged her knees to her chest gently, "You were four when your dad left, so I guess it was a little easier, but when and why did you start calling your new dad, dad?"

"When I graduated middle school," Troy said, "Dad seemed really proud of me. He took me to his favourite fishing spot. He told me that when he graduated, his father took him there, and his grandfather took his father. It was a Burrows family tradition."

"Burrows? But that's…"

"We changed it," Troy nodded. "Mom did when she got remarried, and she changed my name too."

Troy put his hand on Emma's knees, "Family's don't just appear. When you're a baby, you don't notice all the hard work it takes from your parents and your relatives to make a family happen. You think you're just born into one because by the time you know what family is, you have one."

"Or think you do."

"It's harder, when you're older, but it does happen."

"Gia's family does feel like mine," Emma nodded her head. "It's just weird. The people taking care of me are Mr. and Mrs. Moran."

"So, call them something else."

Emma's eyes widened, "That would be weird. They've always been Mr. and Mrs. Moran."

"Before I called dad, dad, I called him by his name," Troy said. "It's a lot more personal. You feel closer to them."

"Do you think that'll help?"

"It's worth a shot. Worse come to worse, you'll know where you stand with them. Isn't that what you want from a family? Honesty?"

"Yeah," Emma nodded her head and smiled. She stuck her helmet back on and then wrapped her arms around Troy, "Thanks."


	92. Personal Day

Noah sat by himself at Ernie's. He had a smoothie with him, which he drank occasionally, but he focused all his attention on his project at hand. It had been days since he had done anything on the Harwood Social Hub, and he wanted to catch up. Jake had been at the soccer fields for practice, though given the time, he was probably at home resting by now, and Noah wasn't sure where the others were. They were friends and teammates, but he didn't see the need to know what they were doing at all hours of the day. As long as they kept their morphers on them, he couldn't care less how they spent their time.

The bell rang, which Noah ignored. Ernie put the bell on the door so he would know when a customer was walking in. Noah kept his eyes on his computer screen until he felt a presence nearby. He looked up and saw Trish, Ella's best friend, standing in front of his table. Over by the bar were Ella and a couple more of her friends.

Noah sighed. He closed up his laptop, "About what I did…"

"You were a real jerk," Trish said, "Ella really, really liked you. You shouldn't have led her on, you jerk."

"I didn't!"

"You told her you were excited for the date," Trish said. Noah groaned. She was right. He had been under a spell at that time and forced to lie, but he couldn't say that to Trish or to Ella. "You made it seem like you were so happy and looking forward to going out with her."

Noah got up and walked over to the bar. Ella didn't even want to look at him. Noah sighed and as Ernie passed the girls their treats, Noah pulled out his wallet.

"I've got this."

"I don't need your charity," Ella muttered, "Just go away…"

"I was a jerk," Noah said, "I get that, and I'm really, really sorry. For what it's worth, I tried to make it work on the date. I'm just… not interested."

"You should have said something," Ella turned away. "You didn't call me for days. Everyone said you were probably just shy, but now I know you're a jerk."

"Yeah, I guess I am. I'm not looking for a girlfriend right now. Dating is just… not for me."

"So then why…"

"I can't explain it. I was a jerk," Noah shrugged his shoulders, "I didn't mean to be, though. I just… have no idea how to break it off with a girl. I thought, after one date, there's no attachment."

"Wrong. I've liked you for a while, Noah. It was so hard talking to you both those times. At least if you had just been honest…"

"I'm sorry…"

"Whatever," Ella rolled her eyes. "If you're going to be a jerk, I'm going to treat you like one. Goodbye, Noah."

Noah sighed. He was truly sorry, but it looked like Ella wasn't ready to forgive him yet. He put his laptop in his bag, deciding it would probably be best if he went to work somewhere else.

When he got outside, he bumped into Jordan. He tried to just walk away, but Jordan grabbed his arm.

"Is the newest monster making you deaf?"

"Newest monster?" Noah asked and reached into his bag for his morpher. Jordan shook his head.

"No, but that would explain why you're ignoring me. Did I do something?"

Noah shrugged his shoulders, "No, I did. You probably heard what happened between me and Ella."

"Yeah," Jordan chuckled, "My sister thinks you're like, totally, a complete and stupid like loser. I quote. Most of the girls at school do, actually. It's a good thing you have no interest in dating."

"How should I have broken up with her?"

"You're asking me?" Jordan pointed to himself, "You do remember my way of breaking up with Emma was waiting until after she was attacked and injured, then dropping her and running off, right?"

"Maybe you're not the best to ask. But I still feel really badly. I apologized and she still won't take it. Is she taking this too far?"

"She's hurting. She'll get over it," Jordan assured Noah, "You did what you could. As long as you meant what you said when you apologized, then the ball is in her court."

"Doesn't stop me feeling like a stupid like loser."

"You're a good guy. You just made a mistake. That's what dating is. You're going to break a lot of hearts before you find the right one."

"Not if I don't date."

"You building your own wife?"

"Why does everything think I'm going to marry a robot?" Noah rolled his eyes. Jordan chuckled.

"Sorry. It's just a joke. Hey, you know what'll take your mind off Ella? I was on my way to the arcade. Are you one of those gaming nerds?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll buy."

"Sweet!"

-Megaforce-

Jake was sitting at dining room table. He couldn't remember the last time he had studied, or even opened a textbook. Fortunately, Gia was here to show him how it was done. She had admitted to hardly having to study. She was the kind of student who just seemed to pick up on everything easily. She didn't have any tricks to offer Jake, but she did know her stuff. Anytime he had a question about anything, she had an answer.

And fortunately, Jake loved to listen to Gia. Part of having a huge crush on her was hanging on to every word she said and playing it over and over in his head. He could still remember the first thing she said to him and the way she said it.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer."

It wasn't romantic, but Jake had been staring which had likely freaked her out. It was their first day of high school and he had been left floored by her. He couldn't close his jaw or take his eyes off her.

"I think that's enough," suddenly, the textbook shut in front of him. Jake jumped slightly and looked over to Gia.

"But we were just…"

"You're drooling on your notes."

"I have a condition."

"Yeah, we all know," Gia teased him, "Unfortunately, there's no cure for being a teenage boy. Were you at least paying attention?"

"Yes."

"Verbe aimer, troisième personne du pluriel."

"Ils aiment E-N-T."

"Good boy," Gia chuckled. "Just go over your notes again tonight before bed. That's the best way to learn and remember something important."

"I will, I promise," Jake closed his notebook and put it away in his bag. He saw Gia was packing up to leave and was a little disappointed.

"Um… do you want to stay for dinner?" he asked and then quickly added, "You know, like friends, and as a thank you for tutoring me all day. I'm sure my parents won't mind."

"Uh," Gia shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not sure, Jake…"

"Gia, it's what friends do. Noah's been here thousands of times. Mom even goes out of her way to make his favourite whenever she knows he's coming. Troy's spent the night here once. I'm not trying anything. You know I wouldn't."

Gia nodded her head and smiled. She did know Jake would never do anything to make her uncomfortable, and she was getting hungry. With her parents trying to make Emma feel a little more at home, they were mostly making her favourite meals, which meant Gia ended up eating vegetarian meals. It would be nice to have something she considered normal for a night.

Jake seemed excited as he called out, "Mom, can Gia stay for dinner?"

"Alright."

-Megaforce-

Emma took off her helmet as she stepped inside the house. Mrs. Moran was working on dinner and it smelled great. She turned to Troy, who had walked home with her.

"Thanks again for talking with me out there."

"We're a team," he said, "We help each other. Are you feeling better?"

"Much. So, do you want to stay for dinner? I'm sure…"

"Dad's already got a kind of family night planned," Troy shook his head, "Sorry, but these are really important to him. And I think he said something about a big announcement. I should already be home."

"Okay, have fun," Emma said before closing the door behind him. Then she walked into the kitchen. Mr. Moran was, as usual, at the table reading the newspaper. Mrs. Moran was over by the stove. Emma walked over to Mrs. Moran and looked at the pot of chili. "It looks good."

"Thank you, sweetheart. Dinner not for another half hour, so…"

"Do you mind if I help? I used to make a lot of my own dinners so I've got a bit of experience."

"There's no need. I really don't mind if you just watch TV or…"

"I want to," Emma smiled and reached to the spice rack. She turned to Mr. Moran, "Um… Joe… uh, can you handle spicy foods?"

It was weird. Calling Mr. Moran by his first name was so strange to Emma, she felt like she had to wash off her tongue with bleach. She knew it had worked for Troy, but his circumstances had been difference. His step-father had raised him from a young age. Mr. and Mrs. Moran had always been in her life, and had been more like parents than her actual parents, but they had always been Mr. and Mrs. Moran.

Mr. Moran lowered his newspaper and looked over at Emma. There was a silence for a moment before he smirked.

"Bring it on."

"Vanessa?" Emma turned to Mrs. Moran and felt the same anxiety. Fortunately, Mrs. Moran smiled.

"Show me what you've got."

Emily smiled as she picked out her favourite spices and added them to the mix of chili. Mrs. Moran looked over her shoulder, making sure to take note so she knew how to prepare the meal next time for Emma's liking. Mr. Moran, meanwhile, got up and walked over to the island counter. He put his newspaper down and pointed to the picture on the front cover.

"Seems no matter what happens in this town, the Rangers are always the headline."

"Joe," Mrs. Moran turned to her husband. They knew Emma and Gia's secret, but thought it best they not tell the girls. Their Ranger duties had been kept a secret for a reason. If the girls wanted them to know, they would say something.

"I'm not complaining," Mr. Moran shook his head. "I think what they do is amazing."

Emma kept her eyes on the pot, unsure what to say, but she listened with interest.

"You do?"

"Maybe I'm biased," Joe shrugged his shoulders and smirked, "They did save you and Vanessa. Either way, I'm very proud of them."

"You don't even know who they are," Emma turned around.

"Well, if I did get to meet them," Joe looked at Emma, "If I got the chance to look them in the eye, I'd tell them all how grateful I am, and how proud I am."

Emma couldn't stop herself from smiling, "Really?"

"Dinner should be ready soon," Mrs. Moran said to Emma, "Go wash up, then come back and help Joe set the table."

Emma nodded her head and couldn't wipe the smile from her face as she went to the washroom. Mrs. Moran waited until she was gone before she picked up the newspaper and hit Mr. Moran over the head with it.

"Hey!"

"Really, Joe?"

"I am proud of them. I'm mortified, but proud. If anything were to happen to Gia or Emma, I'd want them to know that, especially Emma. She needs to know she has parents who are proud of her."

"Yeah, her, not the pink Ranger."

"She is the pink Ranger."

"Just be careful, Joe. If they know we know we could be putting them in a very uncomfortable position. Zip it."


	93. Parents And Their Words

Troy sat up in his room. He had eaten dinner with his parents, and then they played a board game together. It was the usual family night, and had had fun. His parents had questioned him a little bit about the changes in his behaviour. Being a Ranger meant he had to do a lot more sneaking around and lying than he was comfortable with and his parents weren't stupid. They knew something was up. However, Troy refused to share with them, promising it was just him adjusting to living in a new city again. Between his father moving around for work and his parents moving him from school to school to get him away from bullies as a child, this was nothing new to him, but the change always took time to get used to.

His mother left it at that, saying she just wanted to make sure he was okay, and she was glad he was making friends in this city. She told him that though she had considered moving again when the monsters starting attacking, she couldn't take him far away just when he was finally starting to make his first real friends in years.

Troy felt fortunate. He couldn't imagine how he would keep up his responsibilities as the red Ranger from another city. And with his dreams plaguing him nightly, he was sure he was important for something down the road.

But then it happened; it being the reason Troy was spending the rest of the night in his room. His father had announced some big, exciting news, but for Troy it was hard to stomach. He was happy, disgusted, and hurt by it all at the same time.

A knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts. He didn't think to answer it, but his father walked in anyways. Troy just lay on the bed, staring at the Power Ranger action figure he had had since he was a little boy. It was from his hometown in Angel Grove. He had been young when the Rangers there were active, but he had looked up to them. When his birth father abandoned the family, his mother bough him the toy to cheer him up.

"Still holding on to that thing?" his father asked him. Troy shrugged his shoulders.

"The Rangers are pretty cool."

"Yeah, they are. Red still your favourite?"

Troy nodded his head, "Red's a good colour."

"Yep. Look, son…"

"It's fine."

"You're always my boy. No matter what. This isn't changing that."

"Dad, I know. It's just… a lot."

"Not for you. I promise, this is only going to affect you as much as you want it to. You're not the parent. Your mother and I are. This is our responsibility."

"You have no idea," Troy sighed.

"It's big news. You have time to get ready. Five months should be long enough to wrap your head around the idea of…"

"Yeah. It's fine. It's just a shock."

"You sure? You know, if this does bother you, you can tell me. That's what I'm here for. No matter what, I'm still your father. I've always got time for you."

"I know."

"I love you."

"Love you too, dad."

Mr. Burrows gave his son a smile, and then left him to his thoughts in his room.

-Megaforce-

Gia was in the kitchen with Jake's mother, helping with the dishes after dinner. Her parents always told her to offer to help with something when she ate at someone else's house, and considering she hadn't done anything before dinner, she figured the dishes would be a nice way of saying thank you.

"I do appreciate you taking the time to tutor Jake," Mrs. Holling passed Gia a plate to dry. "His grades have always worried me."

"He's a good kid. And he's great at soccer."

Mrs. Holling rolled her eyes, "He was good in school right up until high school. You know what happened then?"

"Uh…"

"He discovered girls."

"What does that mean?" Gia asked. She genuinely didn't understand. Jake was a good looking guy, and from time to time some of the girls in school did hit on him, but it seemed through the years he only had eyes for Gia. He wasn't a player. He did like girls, but no more than any other boy his age, and they seemed to be doing fine in school in spite of the hormones and the dramas that came with love. Jake just wasn't one to study. He didn't like the classroom and the books and the assignments.

"You're all he talks about," Mrs. Holling rolled her eyes. "Gia this, Gia that. Blah, blah, blah."

"Uh…" Gia was suddenly uncomfortable.

"And it's no wonder. I mean, look at you. You're everything a guy wants."

"I, uh…"

"But this game you're playing with my son. Leading him on, pretending you're not interested, but dropping those subtle hints that you want him to keep chasing after you. Seriously, it's ridiculous."

"Maybe I should go," Gia set down the dish towel. Mrs. Hollings kept on her rant.

"I mean, really, where's the respect for yourself and for the boys. Men like a little bit of a chase, but what you do is just… well, if we're being honest, you're a…"

"Mom!" Jake cried as he walked into the room. He had come in to see if there was anything he could do to help out. His mother looked at him.

"What? I'm offering the girl some advice. If she's going to play games, she can't whine when she gets beat."

"Mom, stop it," Jake shook his head. "You can't just read the school newspaper and assume you know the whole story."

"Jake, it's the twentieth-first century. Everyone's entire life is online…"

"You Googled me?" Gia asked. Jake gently grabbed her arm and started to walk her out.

"We'll talk about this later, mom," Jake said.

"What?" his mother followed them to the door. "All you ever do is talk about this girl. For what, two, three years now, she's all you ever talk about, well, her and soccer."

"Mom…"

"You fantasize about the day she notices you and then poof, suddenly you're her best friend. I know girls, Jake. She wants…"

"Nothing," Jake insisted to his mother as he walked Gia out of the house and slammed the door. When they were on the patio he hesitantly pulled her into a hug, "I'm so sorry. If it's any consolation, my dad really, really likes you. When we were in the living room, he gave me props because you were hot, respectful, and…"

"He probably wants to fuck me too," Gia rolled her eyes and then looked to Jake apologetically, "I'm sorry. Your dad was really nice. I just…"

Gia stepped down off the patio and then took a seat on the stairs. She sighed, "Your mother's right."

"Gia…"

"Everyone's lives are online now. If it's not a Facebook status, or a tweet, or if there are no pictures of it anywhere, did it really happen? And, God knows that it's only true if it's online."

"Gia, mom just doesn't get… she's just being… she's mean."

"And I can live with that," Gia said, "But what about next time I meet some guy's parents. Are they going to Google me too? Are they going to find out about this? Are they going to judge me for it?"

"Who cares what the parents think?" Jake sat down beside Gia and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "All that matters is what the guy thinks. My mother's opinions aren't my own, and I'm not responsible for her actions, either."

"This is just… stupid. I'm screwed…" she groaned, rolled her eyes, and then sighed, "Take that however you want."

Gia got up with a sigh, "Thanks for dinner, Jake. I'm just going to go home."

"Gia…" Jake couldn't stop her as she walked to the street and then started for home. He did feel badly for her, and guilty for the things his mother had said. Gia was getting better, but her recovery was a long, hard road, and until she reached the very end, she would always be fragile.

He walked back into the house. His mother was in the living room with his father. They seemed to be disagreeing about something. Jake stormed in.

"You had no right, mom!"

"I stand by what I said. If she's just going to play her little games with you, then she's not worth it."

"One dinner and a few posts on the internet, and you think you know her? Mom, you have no idea…"

"You get what you give, Jake. The boys go after her for a reason. You can't play into her hand…"

"I'm staying at Noah's tonight," Jake stormed off to his room and started to pack a bag. His mother followed him.

"Jake, I'm not saying anything about you. You're a good boy. I'm so proud of you. It's her I don't like…"

"Well, I like her," Jake thought he had what he needed so he started to leave, "I like her a lot, mom. She's special."

"Jake…"

"I'll be at Noah's," Jake stormed out of the house. When he reached the end of the driveway, he kicked the mailbox. He forgot the pole was made from metal and hurt his foot. "Dammit… idiot…"

"I'll talk some sense into your mother," Jake heard his father say and turned around to see he had followed him out.

"Dad…"

"She's just looking out for you."

"She hurt Gia," Jake shook his head. "Dad, I can take care of myself."

"A lot's been going on with you lately, son," Mr. Holling said, and invited Jake to sit on the curb. "Is it just a coincidence things start changing drastically with you at the same time Gia starts to… pay attention to you?"

"I don't want to talk about it, dad," Jake shook his head. It was no coincidence. Gia was paying more attention to him now because they were teammates. Their duties as Rangers brought them closer together, to the point where they were now friends. He couldn't say that, though. Not to his father.

"She seems like a good girl, Jake. I overheard her helping you with homework. It looks like she actually does care about you."

"She does. In her own way," Jake nodded his head and then looked up at his dad, "She's just been hurt and… Mom had no right."

"She didn't, and I'll talk to her about that," Mr. Holling assured his son. He wrapped one arm around him. "You're growing up, son. Soon, you'll be eighteen. There are some things you'll have to do yourself, no matter how much your mother and I want to help or protect you."

"I know."

"This Gia girl, Jake, I've seen some of the things people say online. I watch the news, I read the paper. I know what's going on with her. She's not getting over this. There is no magic cure. You are not going to be her magic cure."

"I know that, dad."

"Have you known about this all along?"

"I just found out too."

"You still like her?"

"I can't stop thinking about her."

"Do you love her?"

Jake looked at the street. He didn't answer. His father gave him a pat on the back.

"That's not a no. Tell Noah I say hi. And tell Gia, if she ever does want to come back to our place, she's more than welcome. She is a great girl. She's lucky to finally have a man like you in her life who cares about her."

"Thanks, dad," Jake said as he got up and started to walk down the sidewalk. On his way to Noah's, he pulled out his phone and sent Gia a message. He wasn't sure she would read it or not, but he thought it was worth a shot.

"_Thanks for the help, and for being patient with me. I'll study tonight and ace all my quizzes this week, promise!"_


	94. Frustrating Days

Jake stepped into school and he could see Gia by her locker. She was staring inside, spending too much time staring at her books. There was still some time before the first bell rang, so she didn't need to head to class, but he had seen her locker. It was too organized for her to need to move things around.

"I'm gonna ace Mr. Burley's quiz today," he told her. He wanted to cheer her up. After the things his mother had said to her, he felt like he was responsible for her feeling sad. "Thanks to you."

"You haven't taken the quiz yet. Be confident, not cocky."

"Right," Jake nodded his head, "And I'm feeling much better about the French test too. Again, thanks to you."

"Anytime," Gia closed her locker and headed to class. Jake sighed and leaned against the lockers just as Emma showed up with Jordan. She opened her locker and turned to Jake.

"Hey," she smiled to him, but it was obvious her attention was on Jordan. Jake nodded his head. He was about to leave, but then turned to Emma.

"Is Gia okay? Last night my mom said some inappropriate things and I'm worried it might be hurting her."

"She was fine when she came home," Emma answered. Jordan took her books from her, causing her to chuckle and roll her eyes, "Jordan, I can carry my own books."

"I know you can," he smirked, "I'll walk you to class, too."

"Good luck on the quiz, Jake," Emma said to the black Ranger before she took off after Jordan, who decided it would be more fun to race her to the science lab rather than walk with her. Jake rolled his eyes. Then he saw Troy standing by his locker and staring into it. He walked over to the red Ranger and gave him a pat on the back.

"Twenty bucks says I'll do better on this quiz than you."

"What?" Troy turned to Jake and then his eyes widened, "Oh shit! I forgot about the quizzes."

"Seriously?"

"I was going to study last night," Troy groaned loudly and pulled out his book, hoping to cram in as much information as he could before the bell rang, "Shit! and I just promised mom I would pull my grades up."

"Dude, relax. You know this stuff."

"Yeah, I kind of haven't been focusing on school," Troy shook his head, "Between monsters and dreams and babies…"

"C'mon, Troy, just calm down. Gia said you need to be cool during a test. The more you stress, the more likely you are to forget something important."

"Wait, you were studying with Gia?" Troy looked up from his books, "I thought you'd ask Noah for help. He is the science geek. He'd ace this for sure."

"He always does," Jake groaned and rolled his eyes, "Apparently, he was at the arcade last night with Jordan. But Noah doesn't stress either, so there's got to be something to it."

"I guess I'm not going to learn anything this way," Troy sighed. He shoved his book back in his locker, knowing he wouldn't need it if they were having a quiz. "Man, this timing sucks."

"It's always going to suck."

"No, I mean…" Troy looked up and down the hall so he was sure no one else was listening and then he leaned into Jake, "Swear you won't tell a soul?"

"Yeah. Is everything okay?"

"My mom's having a baby."

Jake wasn't sure how to respond. He couldn't tell whether or not Troy was happy. It was good news, and bad news, depending on how he saw it. Having a little sibling was exciting, but also a pain in the butt.

"Uh…"

"I'm not sure about it," Troy said. He looked at Jake, "My dad's actually my step-dad. He's been around for as long as I can remember, so, I mean, he's family, but now with a new baby… that's his kid. And mom's going to be so busy too."

"That's rough," Jake nodded his head.

"And my dreams," Troy added. "Jake, I'm the only one having these dreams. I don't want to sound like I have a messiah complex, but that's got to mean something, right?"

"You're the red guy. Red guys always get the cool stuff."

"Jake, be serious," Troy shook his head, "Gosei didn't say anything about Robo-Knight, what if there's something about these dreams? What if I'm… different?"

"What's that got to do with a baby sibling?"

"Mom's in twice as much danger now. If the Warstar find out…"

"They won't."

"And what if this thing lasts long enough for the baby to be born. Those monsters are monsters. Vrak's already gone after Emily's twins. What if they try to use my little brother or sister to get me to do something… you know?"

"You've seriously got to calm down, dude," Jake put his hand on Troy's shoulder, "That's what, nine months away?"

"Five," Troy shook his head, "Mom's… uh… getting older, so they wanted to wait before they told me. You know, in case."

"Look, the baby, it's not your problem. Not now, at least. You just be a kid like the rest of us and try not to imagine how your mother got pregnant."

"Great, now _that's_ on my mind," Troy grumbled as the bell rang, "I'm so bombing this test."

"You'll do fine. Just breathe. I'll be sitting right next to you. We'll ace it together."

-Megaforce-

As usual, Gia finished her quiz early. The answers were easy to her, and the quizzes on testing week were generally short. It was the time of year the teachers took just to see what their students understood and where they needed to improve. It came at the start of the term, just after report cards, so there was enough room for adjustments.

The rest of her friends were still in the class, which gave her some time to herself. She stood by her locker and rolled her eyes as she realized she had forgotten her lunch at home, and didn't have any money on her.

"Miss Moran," the voice was so familiar, Gia didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

"I finished early."

"I know," Ms. Chesterfield answered and then handed Gia a paper bag, "Your father stopped by and dropped this off. You forgot your lunch."

Gia took the bag and peeked inside. She let out a sigh and stuffed the bag in her locker. Ms. Chesterfield looked to her curiously.

"If you don't like it, just tell your parents. Have them pack you something else. Better yet, make your own lunch. You're a big girl."

"I can only pack what's in the fridge anyways."

"Is everything okay?"

"Can you stop that?"

"I'm on your side, Miss Moran. Do you need to talk?"

Gia shut her locker and shook her head, "No."

"I know this is a hard time for you…"

"You know what makes this so hard?" Gia raised her voice, though she knew it wasn't wise to do so in front of the vice-principal. There were only so many times she could escape suspension. "Everyone keeps reminding me of what happened. Can't I just have a bad day, or be a regular teenage girl and sulk all the damn time."

"Miss Moran…"

"I'm fine," Gia growled. She opened her locker, snatched her lunch, and then went outside to eat just as the bell rang, letting the students go for their lunch period. Ms. Chesterfield waiting by the lockers, unsure of what to do, until she saw Emma was headed over.

"Miss Goodall, a word?"

The students in the hallway started to tease Emma, assuming she was in trouble. Ms. Chesterfield never called out students just to ask them how their day was going.

"Probably just this eco-thing she wants to get started," Emma said to Jordan. "It shouldn't take long."

"I'll save you a seat," Jordan kissed her and then took off to his own locker, leaving Emma to walk the halls with Ms. Chesterfield. She reached into her bag and pulled out list.

"The Morans helped me with some ideas last night," she said. "I know some seem a little out there, or even expensive, but I figured we could keep them for the future, or many even have a fundraiser in the school. That'll get attention and earn money for the school going green."

"I'll take a look at that," Ms. Chesterfield took the list, "but I was actually going to ask how things were with you and Gia."

"Me and Gia? Fine. Why did she say something?"

"I wish," Ms. Chesterfield muttered and then looked down at her student, "Her father dropped her lunch off at school. When I delivered it to her, she seemed a little frustrated."

"Apparently Jake's mom said something. She ate at his place. She was fine when she came home last night, though. I didn't notice anything unusual."

"Keep an eye on her."

"Yeah, sure. Do you know where she is?"

Ms. Chesterfield pointed to the doors. Emma assumed that meant Gia had stormed off and hoped her best friend was still on school grounds. She walked outside and had a look around. Gia was eating by herself at one of the picnic tables. Emma took a seat with her.

"I heard you forgot your lunch."

"It's here now," Gia shrugged. Emma nodded her head and smiled.

"Looks good."

"You'd think so."

"There's nothing wrong with eating healthy. You love carrot sticks anyways."

"Yeah."

"What did Jake's mom say?" Emma decided to dive right in. Beating around the bush could take forever, and she did want to spend some of her lunch with Jordan.

"I got what I asked for. I'm bad for Jake. She doesn't like me."

"Gia…"

"After a while, you just go numb," Gia shrugged her shoulders. "It hurt, but not everyone's going to side with me. I've just got to get used to it. Ignore them, right?"

"The people who don't get it don't have a right to say anything," Emma nodded her head. "She's wrong, you know."

"Jake made sure I knew that. He even spent the night at Noah's to prove a point to his mom."

"He's a good guy. So, is everything okay? You'd tell me if there was something bothering you, right?"

"You would be the first to know," Gia nodded her head. Then she pushed her lunch forward, "Want the rest? I'm not hungry."

"You should eat," Emma pushed the food back, "It's not a lot, and we've still got that quiz in last period. You need all the energy you can get."

"I could write these quizzes in my sleep," Gia shook her head, "They make them so easy."

"Tell that to Troy," Emma chuckled, "Every time I look over, he's really struggling. Maybe you could tutor him tonight."

"Yeah, and see what his parents are making for dinner. Maybe I'll finally get two days in a row where I have meat."

"Vegetarian options aren't bad. Besides, we had chili last night."

"I don't like chili. You do."

"We're going out tonight. I was talking to your parents last night about this really cool vegan place and they wanted to try it. There's even stuff on the menu for people like you."

"Like me?"

"Who refuse to like eating vegetarian meals."

"So meat?"

"It tastes like meat," Emma said. Gia leaned across the table and shoved a carrot stick up her nose.

"You're too far gone," she gave her best friend a pat on the head, "I'm going to talk to Troy, see if he needs my help."

"Seriously? You're skipping?"

"You said it yourself. Troy's struggling. Jake seemed to be doing well enough. Maybe I'm a better teacher than I thought."


	95. Changing Families

Troy was glad the first day of quizzing was done. He hadn't done as well as he hoped so when Gia came up to him and offered to help him with his studying, he agreed it was a good idea. She had tutored Jake and it seemed like he had done well. Troy figured there was nothing to lose.

They studied on the bleachers by the football field. Troy knew what was going on, and he understood what Gia was trying to say to him, but focusing was so hard. Giving up, he sighed, closed his textbook and turned to Gia.

"My mom's pregnant."

"Oh… uh…"

"It's distracting," Troy said. He leaned back and looked out at the field, where the football team was practicing. "If I weren't red Ranger, this would be good news."

"It might take a little heat off you," Gia pointed out. Troy gave her a funny look, so she continued, "They'll be so busy getting ready for a new baby, they might not notice when you come home late. They might stop asking questions you can't answer."

"Mom is always worrying. I doubt that's going to happen. Besides, my dad's finally going to have his own kid."

"That doesn't matter. My parents took Emma in, and they started to treat her like their own from the word go. I don't think that's going to change."

"He told me that, but babies are challenging. He won't be able to help it. And there's the matter of being Rangers. Vrak's already gone after Emily's twins. What if he finds out the red Ranger has a baby brother or sister?"

"Don't worry about that. We've got your back. If Vrak tries to mess with baby Burrows, we'll kick his ass," Gia shifted slightly on her seat so she could look at Troy, "This might sound really weird coming from me, but we're a team, Troy. You can count on us. If you're having a baby, we all are."

"You mean face it together?"

"Yeah," Gia nodded her head. She opened up the textbook, "If that's what's keeping you from acing these quizzes then you need to relax. Nothing's going to happen."

Troy smiled and looked down at his book, deciding Gia was right. Having friends and working as part of a team didn't come naturally to him. He had spent so much time alone, and had to tackle all of his problems by himself, that he had never really considered asking for help before. And even though being a Ranger forced him to practice his teamwork skills, knowing he was the only one having dreams, and knowing he was the leader of the team set him apart from the others. When Gia said they would face baby Burrows coming into Troy's life together, he knew it was true.

Jake's words from that morning were also true. Once he relaxed, studying was so much easier. The words in the textbook made sense, and when Gia explained them, they sounded even simpler. He would do better on the next few quizzes, he was sure.

When he looked up to show Gia he understood, he saw her parents standing by the school, "Guess it's time to go?"

"They're picking up Emma," Gia shook her head. "She's found this really cool vegan place, apparently. They decided to try it out."

"You're not going?"

"Since Emma moved in, everyone's pretty much become vegetarian," Gia rolled her eyes. "Mom and dad are still really trying to make Emma feel at home."

"That's a good thing," Troy said and he thought back to his conversation with Emma the day before, "She's having a bit of trouble adjusting, and I can't blame her. It's a big change."

"Huge," Gia agreed, "And it's good for her. When I got home from Jake's, they were all playing a game in the living room. It's been a while since I've seen Emma laughing that hard."

"You don't sound very happy."

"I am. She deserves it."

Troy shook his head, "Is there something bothering you? You've helped me with my baby problems and my math. I kind of owe you…"

"A burger," Gia said and closed his books, "And not the veggie kind."

"You want a burger?"

Gia nodded her head as she started to make her way down the bleachers. Troy put his books in his bags and watched her. He couldn't help but feel there was something she wasn't saying. He hurried down and caught up to her.

"By the way," he walked beside her, "What did you say to your parents?"

"What?"

"When we came home from saving Quinn, mom and dad were furious with me because they discovered I had been out all night. I was in for a world of trouble when suddenly the phone rang. Your dad called, said you had been having nightmares, and that we all went over to comfort you."

"You and Noah both," Gia rolled her eyes, "Yet, when Emma and I got home, mom and dad didn't say anything. A couple of questions, but nothing unanswerable."

"You didn't tell them anything, did you?" Troy asked. "I mean, after your mom took that hit for you and Emma, you were probably feeling guilty and wanted to…"

"I wanted to, but I didn't. They have no idea," Gia shook her head. "I don't know what they're doing, maybe Emma talked to them. She's doing a lot of that."

"Well, it saved me from months of grounding," Troy said as they crossed the street and walked up to the burger place by the school. He opened the door, letting her walk inside. Gia went to the counter and gave the worker there her order. Troy followed, and then he pulled out his wallet to pay while Gia went to find a table. He collected the food and sat with her. "You know, I don't normally eat fast food."

"I'd probably get a lecture if mom finds out," Gia said as she bit into her burger. "She saw Emma's healthy diet and decided everyone should eat a little healthier. She's practically banned processed foods from the house. Get ready for that."

"Diets?"

"Changes. When baby Burrows comes, things are going to change."

"Is that what happened?" Troy asked. "Did things change at home?"

"Obviously," Gia nodded her head, "We're a house of four instead of three. I have to share a bathroom now."

"You and Emma practically lived together before."

"I tried making toast, and forgot the toaster was unplugged. Mom tells me to leave my curtains open during the day so I don't need to turn on my light. Apparently, that saves energy."

"It does."

"Yeah, but I live next door to Mick. I'd prefer to keep my curtains closed."

"Point taken. I guess these energy saving things are for Emma?"

"We have vegetarian dinners. Mom won't let me buy cafeteria food anymore because it's not as healthy as packing a lunch from home."

"Emma's influence? Does it bother you?"

"Her parents were never really parents," Gia said. "About a year ago, Emma got really sick. It took me one phone call to reach my mother. Then I used Emma's phone to try and reach hers and it took several times before they answered and then it took days before they were home. By then, Emma was already starting to feel better."

"Was it bad?"

"Doctors said if we had gotten her to the hospital any later, she might not have made it. She deserves this. Parents who care."

"I agree," Troy nodded his head. "And I guess, with what happened with those mutants, your parents are paying special attention to her. That was pretty scary. I'm sure they're really glad she's okay. But, it must be frustrating having your parents pay special attention to someone else. Even your best friend."

"Who deserves it," Gia reminded him. Troy smiled.

"I was going to do some training tonight. You can join me."

"Sure. Just let me finish my fries."


	96. Two Nightmares

Mr. Moran's eyes were glued to the TV as he watched the news. As usual, when a monster attacked the city, the Rangers went out to stop him. Emma and Gia had fled from the house, using a weak excuse to justify why they were in such a rush and leaving on such short notice. If Mr. Moran had no idea his daughters were Rangers, then he would have been a little more curious and furious they would leave the house when there were reports of a monster attack. However, because he knew, he couldn't get angry. He couldn't stop them. He had to let them go.

The monster was like all the others. He looked similar to an insect that lived on Earth, but he was much bigger, stronger, and it took a lot more than a tissue or even a shoe to take him down.

Mr. Moran saw the whole battle on the news. At first, the Rangers seemed to have no trouble at all, but as the battle progressed, they grew tired, and the monster took them down one by one. He kept his eyes mostly on the pink and yellow Rangers. They were his girls, and while he wished no harm come to any of the Rangers, he wanted them to be safe most of all.

His fears came true. The monster blasted the Rangers, forcing them all to power down and Mr. Moran got a look at all their faces. Then Gia, his ever stubborn daughter, rose to her feet. She was badly hurt, like the others, but Mr. Moran had never known Gia to be a quitter. She never let people push her around, which was why the news of what Cliff, Mick, and Alex had done had come as a shock to him and his wife. But Gia always fought for herself and for her friends and tried to keep herself from appearing weak.

"Stay down," he muttered. These monsters had a habit of leaving the Rangers once they thought they had finished them. None seemed to think it best to kill their fallen foes. It was an oversight Mr. Moran was always very thankful for, and hoped would continue. If Gia would only fall, and stay on the ground, he was sure she and the other Rangers would live to fight another day. It wasn't ideal, having her hurt so much she couldn't get back up, but it was better than losing her.

The monster grabbed Gia by the throat, wrapped his big hands around her small neck. He lifted her into the air, swiped at her with monstrous sized stingers, which tore her apart. Without her Ranger suit to protect her, she was completely vulnerable, completely defenceless.

"No!" he cried and jumped off his couch. He wasn't sure where the monster had been attacking. All the news said was that the battle happened at a quarry. No one wanted to be too specific, just in case some teenagers listened and decided to get a closer look. So Mr. Moran just ran until he finally reached where he wanted to be. The monster was gone and the Rangers were picking themselves up from the ground. They were hurt.

"Joe?" he heard Emma ask. He turned to her, and seeing she was okay enough to get up by herself, he ignored her. He ran to where Gia's body lay. He took her in his arms and begged she say something.

"Gia, please," he brushed her hair away from her face. Her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at him.

"Sorry, dad…"

"No. No, Gia…" he was too late. He hugged her close to his chest and let out an angered cry. It was so loud, he woke himself up.

Mr. Moran cried out as he woke up. He sat up and then stumbled out of bed. He turned on the lamp and looked down at his hands. They were clean.

"Joe?" Mrs. Moran looked up tiredly at him, "Another?"

He nodded his head. Since finding out about Emma and Gia's secret, he had been having nightmares every night. Sometimes, they would happen twice a night. None had been this bad. Gia had never died.

"It's okay," his wife got out of bed and wrapped her arms around him. "It's going to be okay."

Mr. Moran shook his head. He pulled away from his wife and stepped out of the room. He stumbled down the stairs, and walked to the kitchen, where he would make himself a coffee so he didn't need to sleep again. He couldn't suffer through another nightmare. As the coffee brewed, Mr. Moran took his usual seat at the kitchen table, and held his head in his hands.

"Dad?" he looked up, seeing Gia was up, and then he looked past her. There was a light flickering in the living room; likely the TV.

"Is everything okay?" he asked her and looked at the clock, "What are you doing up so early?"

"Nightmare," she whispered. "I couldn't go back to sleep. You?"

"Want to talk about it?" he asked, trying to avoid her question. Gia shook her head.

"No. It's stupid. What about you, dad. You're not normally up for another couple of hours."

The coffee finished brewing. Mr. Moran got up to pour himself some. Then he turned and gestured to the living room.

"What are you watching?"

"Infomercials," Gia said, "I thought they would put me to sleep."

"Let's see," her father said as he wrapped his arms around her. They took a seat on the couch and watched TV. Fortunately, it was only a few minutes before Gia was sound asleep. Mr. Moran thought of taking her back to her bed, where she would be more comfortable, but he couldn't leave her side. He kept his arms around her, drank his coffee, and sighed, "Ignorance was bliss."

-Megaforce-

Troy gasped as he woke up. He was covered in sweat, and his sheets were wet. It was a common occurrence since his dreams had begun. They never woke him gently. Instead, he usually found himself gasping for air and needed to take a minute to calm his speeding heart. Once he was able to think clearly, he furrowed his brow.

All dreams, in a sense, were different. This one was no exception, except for the fact that it was. Troy normally had his own dreams, and even if he wasn't necessarily present, he was always watching. When his dreams focused on another Ranger, like the Samurai Rangers, he always saw their battles, and their lives, from an outside perspective. From his own perspective.

But this time, his dream had been so different it worried him. The dream hadn't been his own. He had seen himself in it. He didn't know for sure, but he was pretty certain that in his dream, he had been Mr. Moran. He never got a chance to look at his dream self in a mirror, but he was pretty certain he had been Gia's father.

"That's the last time I'm eating fast-food," he muttered and then got out of bed. He couldn't sleep. Not after what he had seen and how it had made him feel.


	97. Father And Child

Mr. Moran hoped he looked busy as he sat in his cubical at work. He had tried to work, he truly had, but he couldn't. Nothing could overpower the memory of his nightmare.

He had lost a lot in his time; family members, some friends. He had lost his childhood bear in a house fire when he had been just a boy. His home had been robbed a couple of times. He lost his job a couple of years back, forcing him to quit doing what he loved and instead spend his days sitting in front of a computer. The pay and the benefits were better, but he never felt as satisfied when he came home from work.

For a time when Gia was just a little girl, Mr. Moran had lost his wife. He and Mrs. Moran, like all married couples, got into an argument and their differences couldn't be settled. Mr. Moran moved out of the house for several months until an agreement was made. It had been a painful time in his life, but the only thing that got him through it was seeing his daughter every other weekend. She had been too young to remember it, and Mr. Moran wanted to keep it that way. The past was the past, and he and his wife weren't leaving each other anytime soon, for any reason.

He had also lost his best friend. Emma's father and Mr. Moran had known each other since they were young boys. Like Gia and Emma, they had grown up together, they found the women they were going to marry at about the same time, and even got married in the same year. Having Jeffery move across the country was hard enough, but Mr. Moran knew that as soon as Jeffery saw he was willing to fight to keep Emma from having to go back to her parents, their friendship would come to a brutal end. Though it didn't look it, the Goodalls loved their daughter.

But even all that pain was nothing compared to the pain of losing his daughter. Of course, like any other parent, he had had nightmares of something happening to Gia. He had seen her get sick, he had seen her hurt, and he had even suffered a painful recurring nightmare where Gia had been taken from him. However, he had never seen her die. Now, knowing all of those was possible each and every day, and knowing there was nothing he could do to protect her, he felt useless.

"Guys, look!" someone called out and pointed out the window. Mr. Moran and the rest of the workers on his floor gathered around and looked down to the street. Loogies were terrorizing citizens on the road. Mr. Moran felt sick to his stomach. He knew what would come next.

The Rangers arrived. It was the middle of the day, but somehow they managed to sneak out of class. Black and Blue made sure the civilians got away safely, while Pink and Red fought the Loogies on the street. Yellow fought as well, but she stood in front of the building, stopping Loogies from coming inside. Mr. Moran knew Gia knew where he worked. He knew she was trying to protect him and his co-workers.

"I… I have to go," he said and raced off to the elevator. He went to the ground floor and ran to the doors. More people had gathered there, believing they were safe behind the door and glass windows. Mr. Moran pushed his way out.

Now he knew why his wife had taken that hit from the snake monster. He had called her out on it in the hospital, telling her it was stupid to throw herself in harm's way to protect a Ranger because they were already protected enough by their suits and weapons. But now that he saw Gia fighting, now that the battle was happening and he was there to witness it, he didn't see the yellow Ranger. He saw his daughter – his little girl.

She was doing well, but with this nightmare the night before, and his fatherly instincts, all he wanted to do was protect her. He stepped outside, unsure of how he could help, but knowing he needed to do something.

"What are you doing?" when she noticed him, she screamed. Gia had never raised her voice at him like that. It was out of place. He was the parent, she was the child. It threw him off his game – not that he really had one to begin with – and he forgot to focus on the monsters in the street. One came towards him, holding up a blaster, and looked ready to shoot.

"Get inside!" Gia shouted, and grabbed him roughly, forcing him towards the door. Knowing what he knew, Mr. Moran could feel her grip on his arm was desperate. She was trying to get him to safety. She opened the door, shoved him back inside the building, and turned around in time to see a Loogie had shot at her. The blast was coming too fast for her to react quickly.

Fortunately, the black Ranger jumped in the way. Mr. Moran knew he was Jake, the boy that had a crush on Gia – or as his wife called him, the boy who gave her the tiger. Using a very large axe, he blocked the blast and then destroyed the Loogie.

"You okay?" he asked Gia. She nodded her head and hurried with him back into the street to finish off what was left of the Loogies, but not before glancing back at her father through the doors to make sure he was okay.

Mr. Moran watched her go and then turned away. He walked to the couch in the lobby of his building and sat down.

"What exactly were you trying to do?" one of his co-workers asked him as he sat down. Mr. Moran shrugged. He had been trying to help his daughter, though he couldn't. He had been trying to protect her, but had only put her in danger.

"I don't know."

When the battle ended, Mr. Moran's co-workers went back to their jobs, until the yellow Ranger, followed by the others, stormed into the building. She marched right over to Mr. Moran and yelled angrily at him.

"What the hell were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"I…"

"You see Loogies, you run!" Mr. Moran felt so small as his daughter screamed at him. Not only was she humiliating him in front of his co-workers, but he knew this wasn't just a lecture from a powerful superhero about the safety of staying away from battles. This was a lecture from his daughter.

"Let us handle the monsters," Gia growled, "It's our job. We protect you, got it."

Mr. Moran didn't answer his daughter. He couldn't get it. Sure, as a Ranger, she had a duty to protect the city, but as a parent, he had the responsibility of protecting her. No matter who she was and no matter what she did, his first job was protecting her.

"Let's go," the pink Ranger, Emma, grabbed Gia's arm and pulled. Gia turned her back on her father and stormed out just as angrily as she had stormed in. Emma, Jake, and Noah followed her.

The red Ranger stayed behind for a moment. Given his nightmare, Troy couldn't help but be curious about Mr. Moran.

"What were you thinking?" he asked. Mr. Moran shook his head.

"I don't know. I haven't had my coffee yet. I…"

"You put yourself, and my team in danger," Troy said. "Unless you know something I don't, you need to stay clear. Those monsters are dangerous. So…?"

"So?"

"Do you have something you want to share with me?

Mr. Moran shook his head, "I'll stay clear, I promise."

"Good," Troy said and then he walked off to find the others. Mr. Moran sat back down on the couch and held his head in his hands.

"Stupid move, Moran," his co-worker told him.


	98. Ranger Lives And Personal Lives

Sneaking back into school was tougher than sneaking out. By now, it was obvious the Rangers had all missed class. Unfortunately, it was next to impossible to balance Ranger life with academics.

"Just follow my lead," Jake said as he walked first into the school. "I've been late from practice so many times that I've perfected the art of…"

"Mr. Holling," a hand fell on his shoulder and he turned around. Ms. Chesterfield stood behind him, and she did not look happy. She gave his shoulder a little squeeze and then turned to the rest of the students, "Mr. Burrows, Mr. Carver, Miss Goodall, Miss Moran."

"Ms. Chesterfield," they all replied. She handed out detention slips.

"I don't want to know where you were, I don't want to know why you had to leave, all I want is to see the five of you in room 208 after the last bell."

The teens groaned as they accepted their late slips and then each went to their lockers. It was lunchtime, so the rest of the school was either in the cafeteria, out to eat, or roaming outside.

"If those Loogies had only turned up twenty minutes later," Jake said, "We'd have been golden…"

"Suddenly, I'm glad I'm not in the red suit," Jordan teased as he walked over to the group. He wrapped his arms around Emma and smirked, "Sorry, guys. I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't listen. She insists you make up for missed time."

"I guess being a hero is harder than I've always imagined it to be," Noah pulled out his lunch bag, "Comic box don't prepare you for this."

Jake shook his head and then glanced down at Gia. She was staring into her lunchbox and rolling her eyes. "Vegetables again?"

"Leftover chili," Gia groaned and then glanced at Emma, "Thanks…"

"It needs to be eaten," Emma said as she pulled her bag out of her locker and then started to leave with Jordan. Gia rolled her eyes and scoffed loud enough for Emma to hear. The pink Ranger smirked as she turned around.

"I'd gladly eat your chili if you wanted to go on a date with Jordan."

"Why don't you make your own lunches?" Noah asked Gia. She turned to him with a shrug.

"I was going to, but dad made me sleep in this morning."

"Aw, poor Gia got to sleep in," Jake teased her, shoving her lightly. Gia shook her head.

"We both had a nightmare last night," she said. "I fell asleep on the couch watching TV and I guess he couldn't be bothered to wake me up on time. He was at work by the time mom got me up. Then she handed me lunch."

"Chili," Troy said and then looked to Gia, "You both had a nightmare too?"

"Too?" Gia asked and then gestured for the boys to follow her. They walked outside and around to a private corner of the school, "Ranger nightmare?"

"Yeah, but not like the others," Troy shook his head.

"It wasn't a premonition?" Noah asked.

"I hope not," Troy said before turning back to Gia, "I was your dad."

"Awkward," Jake chuckled.

"No, no, I mean, I saw everything in my dream from Mr. Moran's eyes. At least, I think so."

"From my dad's eyes?"

"I spent all morning trying to figure it out. I have no idea what it could mean. Although, we did eat that burger, and you said you had a nightmare too."

"Maybe it's the fast food," Gia shrugged her shoulders, "My dream wasn't really Ranger related, though."

"What was it?"

"Just… stupid typical nightmare. You know, with Cliff and…"

"You're lying," Jake called her out. Gia turned to him, surprised he would know. She tried to cover it up.

"Says who? How do you know what I dream about?"

"I don't know what you dream about, but I can tell you're lying. So, fess up. What spooked you?"

"Cliff, he broke out and…"

"The truth, Gia."

Gia packed away her lunch, stuffed it in her bag and then got up, "Screw you."

"Gia…" Jake called but she didn't listen as she stormed off. He rolled his eyes and then saw the looks the others were giving him. He shrugged, "What?"

"Jake, if you're right about lying, than she's trying to cover something up with Cliff," Noah said and gave his best friend a pat on the back. "Cliff. You know, the guy who destroyed her."

"She seemed a little… off yesterday too," Troy nodded his head. "Think there's something going on?"

"Emma would know," Jake said. "We'll ask her in detention."

"We all got detention, Jake," Noah rolled his eyes, "We can't ask her about Gia when Gia's right there."

"Something tells me, Gia's skipping," Jake shook his head.

-Megaforce-

Because her Ranger duties had forced her to miss half of their lunchtime, Jordan could only take Emma somewhere fast for lunch. Once they ordered their food and sat down at the table, he looked at her with a smile, "So, that battle was relatively short. And no scars, could you actually be getting better?"

Emma chuckled, "It was just Loogies. Nothing big. Probably Vrak keeping us on our toes. And who knows, with Gosei's track record, it might even be him teaching us a lesson on being prepared."

"So nothing to kiss better?"

"You're so cheesy," Emma shook her head and smiled, "I'm fine. The whole team is fine. We did have a bit of a scare, though."

"I thought it was _just Loogies?"_

"The attack happened right in front of Joe's office."

"Gia's dad?"

"Gia kept the Loogies away from the door, but then, for some reason, her dad thought it would be a great idea to come outside and join the party. Obviously, she flipped. You should have seen it. Joe looked humiliated."

"Why would he step outside?"

"Who knows. Maybe after what happened to me and Vanessa, he decided to try and avenge his family. He's kind of… that guy."

"Tough? Overprotective? Proud? Think he's figured it out?"

"No way. How would he?"

"Mom knew I was lying when I tried to fool everyone."

"There's no way he knows. I mean, Gia and I have had a few close calls and some unanswered questions, but we can just chalk that down to Cliff, and my parents abandoning me."

"Speaking of," Jordan decided he would change the topic. Talking about his girlfriend's parents, especially her father figure and over overprotective he was, was kind of a mood killer, "How is home now? You're calling the Morans by their first name, so…?"

"It's taken some getting used to, but I really like it," Emma nodded. "Troy told me it helped make things more personal, and it really does. I'm really starting to feel like part of the family. I've even had this one slip up, where I almost called Vanessa mom."

"Really?"

"A few days ago. She was really sweet about it, though. She just went with it; like it was normal or it never happened."

"That's good, I guess."

"We're going shopping this weekend too. Vanessa and I. She said it would be girl bonding time, because we all know how much Gia loves shopping," Emma smirked and rolled her eyes. "And Joe even asked if I would take him out to the woods one day. He wants to know what exactly a BMXing photographer does for hours on end."

"Sounds like you've really moved in," Jordan commented and took a bit of his hot-dog. Emma looked up at him with a bright smile.

"What about you? Little sister still colouring on your notebooks?"

Jordan rolled his eyes, reached into his bag and showed Emma his youngest sister's drawings, "Yellow Rangers everywhere."

"She's got your art gene," Emma chuckled.

"I think she knows," Jordan muttered. "She's got to know, and she's messing with my mind. Gia's hired her."


	99. Gia's Trip

Jake tapped his foot impatiently as he watched the clock. He and the other Rangers had gone to do their time in detention except for Gia. Not only was she skipping out on detention, but she had also missed the final period. If she didn't make it before Ms. Chesterfield let the students go, she was in for more trouble than just sitting in a room in boredom for an hour. The vein on Ms. Chesterfield's forehead looked like it was about to pop.

"I've never seen her so pissed off before," Noah whispered as he leaned over to talk to Jake. The black Ranger nodded his head.

"I don't want Gia in anymore trouble, but if she knows what's good for her, she'd avoid Chesterfield until…"

"Boys," Ms. Chesterfield said in a warning tone to silence them. Detention was supposed to be served in silence.

Emma, meanwhile, was sitting at her desk and staring at the one beside her. She had saved the seat for Gia, but it seemed she wasn't going to turn up.

"This isn't like her," she whispered to Troy. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Something's been bothering her lately."

"I haven't noticed anything," Emma said and started to bite her nails, a habit Troy had never noticed with her before.

"We'll call her on the morpher once we're done in here," he promised her. "We'll see where she's at. Then maybe you can talk to her."

Emma nodded her head and kept her eyes on the clock. There were only a couple more minutes. Ms. Chesterfield saw Emma staring down the time and sighed.

"I don't suppose you would know what Miss Moran could be doing that is more important than detention?"

"Plenty," Jake muttered and was elbowed in the ribs by Noah. Emma shook her head. Ms. Chesterfield pinched the bridge of her nose.

"That girl…" she pulled out a book, wrote something down, and the tore out the page. She handed it to Emma, "Have her parents sign this. I think it's time the three of us have a proper meeting."

"Everything's fine at home," Emma said, but took the paper regardless. "I have no idea what's gotten into her."

"That's what we're going to find out," Ms. Chesterfield answered and then looked around the room, "Alright, I think we've all suffered enough for today. See you all tomorrow."

The Rangers groaned as they got out of their seats, "The slip said one day!" Jake pointed to his detention paper.

"Until Miss Moran decides to show, we will be doing this every day. And I'm not afraid to come in on Saturdays and before school."

"What?"

"I hate this as much as you do," Ms. Chesterfield said. She packed up her bags and left the room. The Rangers followed her and saw Jordan was sitting by some lockers, working on his homework. When the Rangers were freed from their detention, he got to his feet.

"So?"

"Gia never showed," Noah muttered, "So we're doing it again tomorrow."

"She never showed?" Jordan asked and he looked at Emma, "Is everything…"

"I don't know what's going on," Emma snapped. Jordan took a step back. Troy, Noah, and Jake seemed a little startled. She sighed, "Sorry, but I don't. She's barely even been at home lately. Between helping Jake and Troy with these quizzes, we don't see her."

Emma looked at the slip Ms. Chesterfield had given her, "I've got to get back. Her parents worry if we're late from school, and I didn't think to tell them about detention."

"Good luck explaining that one," Jake said. "You've never gotten detention before."

"I'll walk you home," Jordan wrapped one arm around Emma's shoulders.

-Megaforce-

Gia looked across the street at the building. She could hardly remember what Serena said the dojo's name was, but she knew that Serena trained at a dojo in Panorama City. There was only one dojo, so she was sure it was right.

"Shiba's?" she read the name on the building and sighed, "I expected something cooler."

She crossed the street and opened the door. The bell chimed and before Gia could even have a look around, she was sent to the ground. She looked up at the ceiling as she worked on getting back her bearings. A little head appeared in her field of vision.

"You're not Auntie Serena."

"Sorry! Sorry!" a man raced over and pulled Gia up to her feet, fussing over her a little too much as he tried to make sure she was okay. "I'm so sorry. My daughter's training and was supposed to surprise her aunt. Riley, what do you say?"

"It's a good thing you're here," Riley told Gia, "If I can kick your butt, you need lessons."

"Riley…"

"Sorry…"

"Riley?" Gia asked and looked down at the little girl. She remembered when she and the others first met Emily, and she told a story about Troy getting his butt kicked by a Riley who also trained at his dojo. If this was the same Riley, then Gia definitely had the right place.

And the Megaforce Rangers did need to train a little harder. A little girl was taking them all out one by one.

"Yeah, my daughter," the man said, "She just finished her lesson with her sensei, but my wife and I like working with her too. She's a bit of a… handful…"

"RILEY!" a woman cried and Gia looked over to see a bonsai had fallen.

"It's the enemy!"

"Make that two big handfuls. I'm Kevin."

"Gia."

"Look, the owners just stepped out, but if you're looking to start taking lessons I could leave them a message. They're friends of ours, and I can tell them we owe you."

"She mentioned a Serena. I'm looking for Serena. She trains here. Serena Smith."

"Are you a friend?"

"Kind of," Gia nodded her head. "Where is she?"

"Let me call her," Kevin said. He pointed to a little kitchenette in the corner of the dojo, "Have a seat. I'll see if she can come down."

Gia did as she was asked, and walked over to the table. She sat down and watched as Riley trained with the woman in the dojo – her mother, Gia assumed. For a little girl, Riley was very good in martial arts. It seemed the Shiba's Dojo was a great place to train.

"Mia and my family both practice martial arts," Kevin said as he walked over. "We thought we'd teach our daughter a few of our disciplines. She prefers it when Mia teaches her, though. You can't take the pink out of the girl."

"Did you call Serena?"

"She said to wait here," Kevin nodded, "She'll be right over. And she told me to offer you something to eat. You came from Harwood? That's a long way by yourself."

Gia shrugged her shoulders, "It's not too bad. I took a bus."

"Parents know you're here?"

"Uh, yeah," Gia nodded. Kevin looked to her. He didn't believe her, but he let it go. He got up, and offered to make her a sandwich, assuming she was hungry after her travels.

Mia finished up her training with Riley. Considering the little girl wasn't born with any affiliation to the Samurai families, training her to acquire Symbol Power was a huge challenge. After school, Riley would come by every day to the dojo, where Antonio would teach her a lesson in martial arts. Originally, her sensei had been Emily, but the former yellow Ranger had taken a maternity leave to care for her twins. She stopped by once in a while to help out, but her time as a sensei was very limited. Quinn and Felix were demanding babies.

After her lessons with Antonio, Mia or Kevin would take over. They would focus on disciplines they learned from their parents. Mia would teach Riley about being a Wind Samurai, as well as the responsibilities of the pink Ranger, while Kevin would teach her all about the Water Samurai Can, and her duties as blue. Fortunately, the Nighlok were gone, so Riley would never need to be called into battle, but it was still important she learn about her family and her past. And, with monsters still popping up in nearby cities, it was important she know how to defend herself.

When Riley was done, she bowed to her mother, accepted a kiss on the cheek, and then ran over to the kitchenette. She sat down beside Gia.

"I am sorry I kicked your butt."

"It's fine, kid."

"I thought you were my auntie Serena."

"Serena's pregnant," Gia frowned and looked down at the girl, "You were going to flip your pregnant aunt?"

"Auntie Serena wouldn't have flipped," Riley shook her head, "She's strong. You need practice. Uncle Tonio is good, he'll teach you."

"If she's looking for lessons, it'll be from either Uncle Jay, or Aunt Lauren," Mia reminded her daughter. "Uncle Tonio teaches the kids."

"He's funny," Riley giggled, "He cut open a pineapple once, and we all got to drink juice!"

"He's creative," Mia explained for Gia, "And he's great with kids."

"Do you want to learn to be a Samurai too?" Riley asked Gia.

"No, I'm here to…"

"You should learn. Everybody needs to know how to beat the bad guys."

"I do know."

"No you don't."

"You caught me by surprise."

"So will the baddies."

"Look, kid…"

"I'm Riley," Riley offered her hand. Gia sighed and accepted it.

"Gia."

"Mommy's name is Mia! Gia, Mia! Gia, Mia! Gia…"

"I get it."

"It's funny."

"Not really."

"You're boring," Riley accepted her snack from her father and ate in silence. She let Gia know she wasn't a fan of her by occasionally glancing over and giving her the evil eye. Gia rolled her eyes.

"How long until Serena's here?"

"She's on her way," Kevin promised as he offered her a sandwich. Then he looked at Mia, "Gia's from Harwood."

"Harwood?" Mia turned to Gia, "You're the kid Serena went to help. How is everything?"

"Fine," Gia groaned, hating that question. Everyone expected her to move on from Cliff, and yet their constantly bringing him up made it difficult to keep what had happened in the past."

"I doubt that. You're here to see Serena. If you came all this way, then there's got to be something wrong."

Gia shrugged her shoulders, "I want to talk to Serena about it."

"I'll leave you two alone," Kevin said. He scooped up Riley in his arms, "C'mon, I've got a few history books to show you."

Mia gave Gia a little smile, "I'm a good listener. You know, when Serena's having a hard time, she turns to me."

"How long until she's here?"

"She was down in Harwood today, helping her sister with her twins. Something happened recently and…"

"She was in Harwood?" Gia groaned loudly and rolled her eyes, "Dammit…"

"She'll be here, don't worry. In the meantime, if there's something you want to get off your chest, or even if you just want to rant, I'm a good listener."

Gia sighed. She knew she was safe here. Troy had trained at this dojo, and so the senseis here were his friends. He knew Emily, and she had been a nice enough person. She had been someone Gia trusted completely. If Mia and Kevin were the senseis' friends, they had to be trustworthy people.

And they also knew Serena. Gia trusted Serena, without a doubt in her mind, and so anyone good enough to be friends with Serena had to be good enough to talk to.

"Something is wrong."


	100. The Hard Truth

When Emma got home, Mr. and Mrs. Moran were immediately at the door. First, they were relieved to see Emma was home, unsure as to why she was late home from school without calling to explain. Though they knew her Ranger duties meant sometimes she would have to stay out late or disappear without giving a proper reason, they couldn't help but worry.

After that, they were angry. Emma had to listen to the lecture of calling home if she wasn't going to be back on time, as well as lectures about responsibility and thinking of others. She had really worried them. Mr. Moran, especially, looked a little jumpy.

"Uh, Gia left her pen," Jordan pulled out one of his own pens from his pocket. It wasn't like Gia to miss detention, and he and Emma both were hoping she had just gone home, but he had his doubts she would be that easy to find. He could tell there was something going on with her.

"She's not home," Mrs. Moran said and turned to her husband. Now he seemed really worried, as he pulled out his cell phone and started to dial.

"We were hoping she would be," Emma sighed and now had an excuse for why she was home late. She couldn't tell the Morans she had gotten detention for skipping class, because they would ask why she had skipped and that was unanswerable. "She stormed off at lunch and Jordan and I went to look for her after class."

"She was too worried remember to call you," Jordan said, "And I'm really sorry, Mrs. Moran, I should have reminded her."

"It's alright, Jordan. You brought her home, at least."

"She's safe with me," Jordan promised. Mr. Moran came back from the living room and he looked slightly troubled. He gestured to his phone.

"She's not picking up. Emma?"

"I've tried her phone," Emma nodded. She had also tried the morpher, "I got nothing. She's ignoring me too."

"She's in so much trouble when she does come home," Mrs. Moran growled. Mr. Moran swallowed the lump in his throat.

"This isn't like her, Vanessa. What if something happened?"

"Emma, upstairs," Mrs. Moran pointed to the stairs. Emma tried to say something, but Mrs. Moran was not to be argued with, "You certainly have homework. Get to it. Jordan, thank you for bringing her home."

"Bye," Emma said and gave Jordan a quick kiss before she hurried up the stairs. Jordan turned to leave, and then he stopped himself. He looked at Gia's parents.

"Uh… I know I'm just a kid, but when Gia does come home, maybe go easy on her."

"Goodnight, Jordan," Mr. Moran tried to close the door on the teenage boy. Jordan put his foot in the way.

"I really think you should…"

"Goodnight, Jordan," Mr. Moran repeated and then he managed to close the door, keeping Jordan out. He looked up the stairs, seeing Emma was watching.

"Homework."

"But Gia…"

"Now!" he shouted. Emma scurried off to her room, but she didn't go inside. Instead, she closed the door and then snuck back towards the stairs, hiding behind a wall so the Morans didn't know she was listening.

Mr. Moran paced back and forth in the front hallway, "What if something happened?"

"I've been checking the news. There haven't been any monster attacks. I don't think this has anything to do with that."

"We don't know! What if something got her? What if…?"

"Joe, Emma's here. If something had happened to Gia, do you really think she'd have come home?"

"Then what? It's not like her to ignore her phone. It's not like her to just disappear on us."

"Joe…"

"Those little monsters, they attacked my building today. What if… what if something happened after that? Oh, God, what if she's hurt? What if Emma's just home to keep us in the dark?"

"Joe…"

"I hate this, Vanessa! I hate this!" Mr. Moran shouted, "My daughter's a Power Ranger, and there's nothing I can…"

"SHH! Emma might…"

Emma stepped out from behind the wall, her eyes were wide with shock, "What?"

"Emma?" Mr. Moran turned around. Mrs. Moran massaged her temples.

"Sweetheart…"

"Gia's a what?"

"We know."

"Know what?"

"Don't play stupid with us," Mr. Moran growled. He looked to his wife as they both agreed to tell the truth. He put a hand on Emma's shoulder, "You're the pink Ranger."

"What?"

"I found out," Mrs. Moran explained as she took Emma's hand, "When that monster was holding you hostage. When Gia… when the yellow Ranger saved you, I saw the way you two were acting and I just knew. That's why I did what I did. Of course, I knew I needed to protect you, but when I knew it was Gia protecting you I just… I couldn't stand back."

"That's also why I stepped out of the building today," Mr. Moran said. "I know you were there, Emma. I know you were pink. You were fighting with that Troy kid. Your friends, Jake and Noah, were helping people off the street."

"You can't know," Emma shook her head. "You're not supposed to know."

"We weren't going to say anything;" Mrs. Moran hugged Emma tightly, "Identities are secret for a reason. The less everyone knows the better, right?"

"We're willing to keep up this little charade," Mr. Moran said. "You don't need to share any Ranger business with us. Not unless it's important."

"Like one of you is hurt," Mrs. Moran nodded. She looked down at Emma, "Is Gia…?"

"The Loogies were nothing," Emma shook her head. "Gia was fine. There have been no monsters since, or Gosei would have said something…"

"So, then where's Gia?"

-Megaforce-

By the time Serena arrived at the dojo, Gia was asleep on the couch. Serena hurried in worriedly, but was calmed by Kevin and Mia as soon as she walked in.

"What do you mean you talked to her?" Serena asked Mia. "Look, you're good, but Gia is…"

"Hurting, I know."

"She's been through enough, Mia," Serena growled. "If she came all the way here to see me, then I don't think you can…"

"You should call her parents," Kevin handed Serena the dojo's phone, "She says they know where she is, but she's lying. I'm sure they're worried sick."

"The number's in my phone," Serena said and handed Kevin her cell phone, "Moran."

As Kevin called the house, Serena walked to the couch. She gently woke Gia and took a seat beside her. Gia groaned as she was woken, but smiled when she saw Serena.

"You're here."

"I told you, on call, no matter when," Serena smiled, "Or where. You should have called. I was in Harwood."

"Sorry."

"What's up?"

Gia hugged her knees to her chest, "You know how Emma's parents left her, so she moved in with me and my parents?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't think I like it anymore."

"Gia's feeling ignored," Mia came to sit down on the couch with the girls, and chuckled slightly as Kevin struggled to explain who he was and what he was doing with Gia to what sounded like very angry parents.

"Mom and dad spend so much time trying to make Emma feel at home," Gia said to Serena. "They make her favourite meals, we've changed our routine around. Mom's even changed my diet because Emma's is better."

"That's rough."

"It's stupid."

"It's not," Serena shook her head and hugged Gia tightly, "Its normal, sweetheart."

"How? Emma's my best friend. I'm thrilled she finally got the family she deserves. I've wanted this for her since we were kids. And now she's practically my sister. It should be awesome. But it sucks."

"It's sibling rivalry. It happens all the time," Serena said and rubbed her stomach, "I know I'm going to have to keep my eye on Terran once this little one comes. He's already not happy when I have to babysit his cousins for a few hours. Before Emma, you had your parent's attention. Now it's split. They can't focus on you all the time."

"Or ever," Gia sighed. "It's Emma's favourite food, or Emma's favourite games, or Emma's favourite movie. It's Emma, Emma, Emma…"

"Because it needs to be," Serena said. "Emma, like it or not, needs this attention."

"Yeah, but this much?" Gia asked, "The other day, she was about to call my mom, mom. This weekend they're going on a girl's shopping trip. They're having a girls' day. I wasn't even invited. Dad's taking an interest in everything she does. They're so proud of her. She's so great and… God, listen to me! She's my best friend and… I'm being selfish."

"You're not being selfish," Mia tried to reassure Gia, "Emma needs people to care for her. Your parents need to step up with her. You know that."

"Yeah…"

"But if they can't do that, and take care of you too, then you're just back to square one. One of you has loving parents, and the other is ignored."

"And I'd call this progress," Serena smiled and earned herself looks from Gia and Mia. She chuckled, "Gia, before I left you, you didn't think you deserved anything, right?"

"Yeah."

"Now you're here, upset because you think you deserve something and you're not getting it. It's progress."

"I've never met your parents," Mia said to Gia, "But I'm sure they love you, and I doubt they're doing this on purpose. You need to talk to them."

"And say what?"

"Exactly what you told me," Mia said. Gia turned to Serena and saw the older woman nodding her head.

"They're your parents, Gia. They love you. They can handle it."


	101. A Family Divided

Serena had sent Mia and Kevin home. Riley was getting tired and it would be a while still before Gia was ready to go home. She was waiting for her parents to turn up, and then Serena thought it best the three of them talk while she was still around. If this problem had been big enough for Gia to run away from home, then she didn't trust Gia would talk and get everything out on her own.

Serena could understand what had caused Gia to feel like her parents were ignoring her. Though she doubted that was the case, she could also assume that the Morans needed to put in extra time with Emma. Her parents had abandoned her to live out their own lives, and from what Serena knew, they had never been parents before. Emma needed the Morans to step up for her, and unfortunately, that would take a lot of away from Gia. It was impossible to take in another child, and give everyone all they had before. Serena would have to set Terran aside from time to time once the new baby was born. He was two now and could take much better care of himself than a helpless newborn. Of course, she would never ignore her son. She loved him to much go to even a day without giving him some attention, but it would never be the same. She had already told him that when the new baby arrived, he would have to be a big boy.

However, given what Gia had gone through with Cliff, things weren't as straight forward. Though Serena could tell Gia liked her independence, she was in a state where she needed to know there was someone looking out for her, someone who cared. Cliff had destroyed her from the inside out, and Gia's mission now was about figuring out who she wanted and what her place was in life. It was a journey she shouldn't have to tackle by herself. She couldn't be ignored. Serena wouldn't allow it. She doubted she would have to, but she was ready to fight against Gia's parents if they couldn't see that both girls needed a lot of attention.

"When are you due?" Gia asked. She had been sitting at the table in the kitchenette. She knew Kevin had called her parents, and was waiting to be picked up. There wasn't much to do in the dojo. Serena had offered a lesson, but Gia wasn't feeling up to it. She just wanted to wait. As she waited, she couldn't help but notice Serena stroking her ever growing stomach.

"Soon enough," Serena smiled.

"Boy or girl?"

"We're not telling people," Serena said, then she looked at Gia, "Girl."

"You're telling me?"

"I figured you could keep a secret."

Gia let a little smile form on her lips, and then nodded her head, "Got a name picked out?"

"We're narrowing it down. I've got a couple of name I really like. James is really pushing for Samantha, though."

"I like that name."

"Samantha?"

"Sammie, for short," Gia nodded. "It's a good name."

"I think James just wants to call her Sam. I think he plans on raising a tomboy."

"Well, not that my vote counts, but I like Sammie."

Serena gave her head a little nod, and then felt the baby kick inside her stomach. She looked across the table at Gia and waved her over, "Come here."

"Why?"

"Just come."

Gia did as she was asked. She got up and stood beside Serena. The older woman took her hand and put it on her stomach. Fortunately, the baby kicked. Gia pulled her hand away, slightly startled.

"That's weird."

"Imagine how I feel," Serena chuckled. "I think she likes you."

Gia furrowed her brow, "What?"

"She kicks for her daddy, she kicks whenever I talk about auntie Emy," Serena chuckled as she felt the baby move again. "She kicks for people she likes."

"Really?"

"Here," Serena took Gia's hand and held it on her stomach, "Say something."

"Like what?"

"Talk to her. Tell her who you are."

"Can she hear me? She doesn't understand anything yet… does she?"

"She's sick and tired of my voice already," Serena smirked, "Go on, just talk. It can be about anything. Terran went on a ten minute rant about how angry he was that I washed his blanket."

"Uh… okay… I'm Gia? What do I say to an unborn… hey."

"Another kick. I told you she liked you."

Gia smiled as she looked at the stomach. Just then, the dojo doors opened and her parents and Emma rushed in. Mrs. Moran rushed to her daughter, taking her in her arms and hugging her close, relieved to see she was okay. Mr. Moran glared at Serena.

Serena held her hands up defensively, "I had nothing to do with this."

"Who was that man who called saying he had my daughter?"

"My friend Kevin," Serena assured him. "Gia's been safe this whole time."

"What were you thinking?" Mrs. Moran asked her daughter. She pulled her away to look at her, and pulled her back in her arms. Gia's disappearance had terrified her, especially after the truth came out at home about the Ranger secret, and Emma assured the Moran that no monster had attacked the city and hurt or taken Gia. The thought that something could have happened to her daughter without anyone knowing, especially the Rangers, or the thought that it could have been anyone or anything that had taken her daughter and prevented her from calling or getting home or even answer her phone and morpher was truly terrifying.

As Gia suffocated from her mother's hug, she looked over at Serena. The white Ranger smiled.

"See, they do care."

"Care?" Mrs. Moran let go of Gia slightly and turned to Serena. Then she looked back at her daughter, "What does that mean? Care? Of course we care, Gia. You had us all worried sick."

"Literally," Emma said, "Your dad pulled over on the way here to be sick."

"I didn't think you'd notice," Gia whispered. She moved away from her mother and sat down on the couch. Her parents sat down beside her, somewhat crowding her. Gia shrugged her shoulders, "I figured Emma would get home, you'd eat some stupid salad, watch a movie, and then go to bed."

"And not notice you not coming home?" her father asked.

Serena walked Emma to the training mat, assuming Gia wouldn't want her best friend overhearing the conversation with her parents. One of the reasons she hadn't said anything was because she didn't want to hurt Emma. Gia was smart enough to know her parents weren't pushing her away without reason. They were trying to be parents to Emma. Gia couldn't ever deprive Emma of that, and felt selfish for wishing some attention away from her.

Emma was smart, though. When Serena walked her over to the mats, she looked over, "It's my fault, isn't it?"

"Not fault," Serena shook her head, "You've done nothing wrong."

"Except…"

"You've done nothing wrong."

"Her mom almost got herself killed for me the other day. I've been hanging out with her parents a lot. She's got to feel like I'm taking them away. That's the last thing I wanted. I… I like having real parents, but I'm not about to steal them from someone else, least of all my best friend."

"She knows."

"I should have known," Emma rolled her eyes. "I should have known something was up. Jake did. Troy did. Why can't I ever see it? First Cliff coming back, now this?"

"She hides it from you, Emma. She hides it from you most of all. My sister and I do the same thing. If there's something bothering us, something we don't want anyone to know about, we hide it from each other. No one knows me like Emily does, and the minute I let my guard down, she knows."

"I don't want her to hide things," Emma shook her head. "She can trust me with anything. She knows that. I thought… I thought she knew that."

"I'm sure she does," Serena said. Emma sighed and then felt someone hug her from behind. She glanced over her shoulder, saw the blonde hair, and sighed again, "Gia…"

"I'm sorry."

"I thought something happened to you," Emma turned around and saw the sad look on Gia's face, "What if something happened to you? What were you thinking, coming all the way out here by yourself? And without telling anyone? You could have been hurt or even killed!"

Gia stepped back, "Em, I'm…"

"And then I would have found out it's my fault!"

Gia's eyes widened and she shook her head, "No, Emma, it's not your fault! I know it's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault…"

"But I didn't know that! How am I supposed to know that if you never talk to me?"

"Tell her about your nightmare," Gia's mother said. Gia looked over, and then back at Emma and sighed.

"I dreamed we were both in trouble, equal trouble. Danger, actually, and… and mom and dad both saved you. It's not your fault, you needed help."

"This is our fault," Mrs. Moran sighed and turned to her husband.

"Emma and I can take the bus home," Mr. Moran said. "Why don't you and Gia take the car?"

Mrs. Moran nodded her head. She took the keys from her husband and touched Gia's arm, signalling to her it was time to go.

Gia looked to her best friend, "Emma, I'm sorry."

Emma shrugged her shoulders, and leaned into Mr. Moran as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Your mother's waiting," he said to his daughter.

"Stay safe, kid," Serena told Gia with a smile, "No more running off. You've got a home here, but your family needs to know."

Gia nodded her head and thanked Serena before following her mother out to the car. Mr. Moran turned to Serena and told Emma he would ask her where the nearest bus stop was while Emma waited on the couch. When she was out of earshot, Mr. Moran sighed and looked down at Serena.

"This is complicated. I feel… like a failure asking for your help. I'm almost old enough to be your father but… any suggestions on what my wife and I need to do?"

Serena shrugged her shoulders, "They both need you, they both need each other."

"So…?"

"You know what you need to do."

"You're… no help," Mr. Moran sighed. He started for the door, "but thank you."

Serena nodded her head and closed the door behind them. Then she rubbed her stomach and sighed, "Did you hear that, Sammie, I think grandpa Ji's rubbing off on me. That was something he would say."


	102. Coming Together

Troy knew his parents would ask him why he was home late from school. Normally he let them know when he was going to be home late. It was the least he could do so they, his mother especially, wouldn't worry about him. Today, between the monster attack and detention, he hadn't had time to call home.

So he made up an excuse. Talking with Jake and Gia about his future sibling had really helped him overcome his worries. Not only did he have to worry about the change a baby was going to bring to his family, but he also had his Ranger duties to think about. Vrak had already shown he took no mercy upon the children, and if he decided to target the red Ranger like Creepox had, then going after the red Ranger's little sibling would be an easy way to get Troy to fall into a trap. Troy couldn't put his family in danger like that.

In a way, Jake was right. When it came to personal life, Troy didn't need to worry about the baby. He was the older sibling, and he was far older, so he knew his parents were going to expect him to help out, but they weren't going to expect him to be a parent. He was still a kid. He was still their kid. That was never going to change.

And Gia was also right. When it came to his duties as a Ranger, he wasn't alone. He had a whole team to back him up. If Vrak did discover the red Ranger's little sibling, and if he did decided to stoop as low as holding the child for ransom, Troy knew he could count on his teammates to figure something out. He was the leader, and he was the only one with the prophetic, strange dreams, but he was not alone.

So he stopped by the mall and picked out a little red teddy bear. He wasn't sure what to expect, and figured red was unisex. It was also his colour. He wanted his little sibling to know that he would look out for him or her.

"Troy…" his father scolded his as soon as he walked into the kitchen. Troy held up the bear.

"I lost track of time. I bought this, though."

Mr. Burrows smiled when he saw the bear, "So, are you okay with…?"

"Yeah," Troy nodded his head. He set the bear on the kitchen table, "It'll be cool having a little brother or sister."

Mr. Burrows stepped away from the stove and hugged Troy, "No matter what, you're still my boy. That doesn't change because genetically this baby is mine. I've watched you grow. Nothing will ever replace that."

"I know. I get it now."

"Good. Now, can you help me with dinner? Set the table, please. Just two. Your mother is… feeling a little under the weather."

"Oh…"

"We will need to be very careful for the next few months," Mr. Burrows chuckled. "Hormones."

"Got it."

-Megaforce-

The car ride home from Panorama City was silent. Gia stared at the window, wondering what it was going to take to get Emma to forgive her. It seemed the one thing she had really been trying to avoid was the only thing that came true. She never wanted Emma to get hurt or to blame herself for the way Gia had been feeling. She knew it wasn't her fault. Yet Emma had taken it all to heart. She did blame herself _and_ she was angry with Gia for not sharing with her. Since they were little girls, they had told each other everything.

Mrs. Moran was silent because of it all as well. Her daughter hadn't just gone missing, she had run off. Something had bothered her so deeply that she left town to find someone, who was basically a stranger in Mrs. Moran's eyes, she thought she could talk to who would understand her. It made her feel like a failure as a mother.

Unable to take it anymore, she pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the car. She turned to Gia, who seemed confused about the stop.

"Mom…?"

"_You_ are my daughter," Mrs. Moran said. "No matter who walks in and out of this family, _you_ are my little girl. Nothing changes. Nothing ever will."

"But mom, Emma needs…"

"Emma needs parents," Mrs. Moran nodded her head. "Emma needs a home. Emma needs a family. We're giving her that. But that doesn't change the fact that _you_ are my daughter. _You_ are always my first priority."

"She calls you by your first names," Gia said, "You make her favourite foods. You're having a girl's day with her without me. Dad's taking an interest in what she does…"

"My family calls me by my first name, Gia. Emma is family. You calling me mom is special."

"Alright, fine, but you're still changing everything at home because of her. What if I like flushing every time I pee? What if I like eating dead baby animals…?"

"We'll compromise on those. You can both get what you want. I'm sorry I didn't realize that sooner."

"Why don't I get to go shopping?"

"You don't like shopping…"

"I don't know what I like!" Gia shouted and punched the front of the car. "I don't know what I like, I don't know what my favourites are, and I barely even know who I am!"

"Gia…"

"I don't like flowers and animals! Being a vegetarian is stupid! BMX is just dangerous bike riding! That's not me, that's not what I like, that's Emma! It's always been Emma!"

Mrs. Moran took off her seatbelt and stepped out of the car. She walked around, opened Gia's door, and pulled her daughter out. She hugged her tightly.

"Gia, what's wrong? Just say it, it's okay."

Gia sobbed into her mother's chest, unable to get it out. Her mother waited patiently, holding her close. They stood on the side of the street for nearly half an hour. Long enough for the bus Emma and Mr. Moran had taken to pass them. Eventually, Gia pulled away. She wiped her nose on her sleeve and shrugged her shoulders.

"When… when Cliff… hurt me, I got scared," Gia whispered. "I didn't want it to happen again so… so I hid. But he's gone now and…"

"You can't find yourself?"

Gia nodded her head, "I know I'm smart. I do well in school. I like my friends, and I like hanging out with them and… I guess, I even love having Emma live with us."

"But…?"

"But that's it. I don't have hobbies, like Emma and the others. Troy's got his marital arts, Noah's in love with science. Jake's an amazing soccer player. Jordan can even draw and he's a good athlete. What do I do or like or…"

"Gia!" she was tackled away from her mother as someone grabbed her. She stumbled slightly, but caught her balance before she fell over. Emma had run into her, and was now hugging her tight, "What happened? Are you okay?"

Mr. Moran looked to his wife, "We saw you from the bus. Emma practically assaulted the driver so he would stop."

"I thought you were mad at me," Gia whispered to Emma. The pink Ranger nodded her head.

"I am. Kind of… are you okay? You looked really upset."

"We only saw you for a second," Mr. Moran said. "I tried to tell her to let you two talk, and she could say what she wanted once we were all home but Emma insisted."

"It's okay," Emma said in a promising tone as she held Gia. "I'm mad, but we're still best friends. You're not losing me. I won't make you choose between me and your parents. I can step back if you need…"

"No, that's not what I want…"

"You girls let us handle that," Mrs. Moran promised. "Your father and I will figure this mess out so you both get what you need. No stepping back from either of you."

"What if we go home and have a living room slumber party?" Emma suggested and looked at Gia, "Remember those?"

Gia nodded her head. When she had been younger, she had been scared of monsters hiding under her bed. She wouldn't sleep in her own room, and spent many nights between her parents in their bed. When Emma stayed over, the whole family camped out in the living room. They had candies and chips, and the girls watched movies until they fell asleep. They slept on pillows and blankets on the floor, while Mr. and Mrs. Moran camped out on an inflatable mattress. Gia had loved those sleepovers, and pretended to be scared of monsters for a year longer than her actual fear because she wanted to keep them going.

"Sounds like fun," Mr. Moran nodded his head. He took his car keys back from his wife. I doubt the bus driver will let us back on the bus, so why don't we all drive home and made a quick stop at the corner store for a few treats?"

Everyone agreed as they climbed into the car. The girls climbed into the back seat. Gia looked over at Emma apologetically.

"I am really sorry…"

"I know. Me too."

"I don't blame you."

"I do," Emma said. "I blame me. I should have known. I should have noticed something. The guys all did."

"Emma…"

"You can't hide this from me. We share. That's what we do. Got it? Next time something's bothering you, even if you think it'll hurt me, you tell me. And I'll do the same."

Gia nodded her head, "I'll go to you first."

"Or us," her father said from the driver's seat, "We're here too."


	103. Good Luck Charm

Noah grumbled as he pulled out his books from his locker and stuffed them into his bag. So far, he hadn't seen Gia anywhere in the school, and if she failed to show up for detention, he'd be stuck attending for another day.

He wasn't one to get detention. Though Jake sometimes pushed him to break a few of the school rules, they had never been caught doing anything that would warrant an after school detention. A trip to the principal's office for a lecture, yes, but never detention. He didn't like it, and he didn't like going home to explain to his parents how he had gotten in trouble, especially if it had been a lie.

"Dude," Jake called him from down the hall and waved him over. Noah made sure he had everything in his bag before he closed his locker and followed his friend. They walked outside where they met up with Troy, Emma, and Gia by the picnic tables.

"Thank goodness," Noah grumbled, showing Gia his discontent. "Because you didn't show up yesterday, we have to suffer through detention again."

"Sorry," Gia said. "That's why I called you all here before class. I wanted to apologize for yesterday."

"Is everything okay?" Troy asked her. Gia nodded her head and smiled.

"Yeah, they're getting there, right Em?"

Emma also nodded her head. She still wasn't happy that Gia hadn't come to talk to her. She wanted nothing more than to be able to help her best friend. It felt terrible knowing Gia had decided running away was the best answer. But Gia was making it up to her. They had stayed up late, later than their parents, to talk about what had happened. It hadn't been the smoothest conversation, but Emma now understood why Gia had been feeling ignored and forgotten. It had a lot more to do than with just her parents.

"Gia's going to be here for detention," Emma promised for her best friend.

"I won't leave you guys hanging again. I am sorry about that."

"Let's just get to class," Jake smiled and he wrapped one arm around Gia, "I, for one, don't want to be late for Mr. Burley's latest quiz. I'm aiming for full marks," he cast a slight glance over to Gia; "I studied hard last night."

"Glad to see it's paying off," Gia smiled back at him as they walked inside. Noah and Troy headed straight to class, while Emma went to go find Jordan before the day got started. Jake stuck with Gia as they walked to her locker, and bumped into Ms. Chesterfield.

"Sorry about yesterday," Gia said when she saw Ms. Chesterfield did not look happy.

"Do you have the slip I gave to Emma?"

"Signed, sealed and delivered," Gia nodded her head and passed over the form Emma had brought home. Because she had skipped classes and her detention, Ms. Chesterfield had sent a note home asking that she meet with Gia's parents. By now, Gia had gotten into enough trouble, she figured it was time the school meet with the Morans to discuss where to go from here. In spite of the hard time Gia gave her, Ms. Chesterfield did like Gia, and did wish the best for her. She was a very promising student, and would leave a positive mark on the school for years, even decades because of her great grades. She and Noah especially were two of the brightest students Chesterfield had seen in all her years as an educator.

"Perfect. So this meeting…"

"Actually, it's not happening," Gia said. Chesterfield frowned and looked down at the note. Gia's parents had declined. "I talked to them about what happened so they didn't think it's necessary."

"But I insisted."

"I won't be any more trouble. I promise," Gia put her hand over her heart. Ms. Chesterfield let out a sigh and waved her and Jake off. When she was out of earshot, and the two reached Gia's locker, Jake chuckled.

"Your parents seriously refused a meeting with Ms. Chesterfield?"

"Emma explained the detention to them, and they know why I wasn't at school or at detention. Everything is under control at home."

"You sure?"

"Even if it wasn't, do you really think I want my vice-principal snooping around in my personal life? I'm fine with her checking up on me during school hours and whatever, but after the final bell, I don't want to know her."

"As long as you're feeling better," Jake said, "And you don't just disappear again."

"Yeah, that was stupid," Gia said and laughed, "Sorry. And sorry for the extra detention."

"I'd have probably earned it on my own anyways," Jake brushed it off with a shrug, "So, uh, I have another game tonight. The whole team is bringing good luck charms and…"

"Good luck charms?"

"Coach is even going to talk to the ref about letting us use the ball he won his first regional championship with."

"I'm your good luck charm?"

"Well… yeah," Jake scratched the back of his neck, "Look, um, if you're busy or whatever, it's fine. I think I've got a pair of lucky socks or something."

"I'd love to," Gia smiled and then looked inside her locker, fiddling around with some of her books to make herself look busy while she blushed.

"Awesome!" Jake said just as the bell rang. "We got to go. For once, I'm really pumped about writing a quiz."

"Coming," Gia called and followed him down the hall.


	104. Look But Don't Touch

Jordan wasn't normally one for detention. He could barely find the class, but eventually he did make it down to the room. He walked in slowly and passed his slip over to Ms. Chesterfield.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here today," she told him, "Have a seat."

He sat down beside Emma and smiled. She leaned into him, "What did you do?"

"Ripped up my last quiz."

"Why?"

"Sitting out in the hall yesterday was boring," he shrugged his shoulders. "At least this way I'm with you."

Gia gagged. Jordan glared at her.

"Shut up."

"Five more minutes," Ms. Chesterfield called out, prompting all six students to groan loudly as time was added to their sentence. Noah turned around and glared at Jordan.

"It's a silent detention."

"Sorry," he whispered. He reached into his bag and pulled out his notebook. He started to draw.

Noah turned around in his seat so he was facing Jake. When they had been boys, they had come up with a way of speaking to each other without using words. It had bothered his parents many times, but had come in handy for detention.

"_What are you doing after this?"_

To Troy, who was watching, it looked like Noah was trying to swat a fly away. Then Jake started to wave his arms around, making him look equally silly.

"_Soccer game. Why?"_

"_I needed someone to help me with one of my latest experiments."_

"_Ask Troy."_

Noah suddenly turned to Troy, "Pst..."

"I don't want to be a part of this," Troy shook his head and then buried his face in his arms. He planned on napping through his detention. Noah rolled his eyes, quickly checked to see if Ms. Chesterfield was watching, and then he wrote down a note and passed it to the red Ranger. Troy looked up when he felt a tap on his arm and he groaned. He took the paper.

"I have dinner with my parents tonight," he shook his head. Noah sighed loudly. He turned to the other side of the classroom, hoping maybe one of the girls or Jordan would be able to help him out.

"_Gia's coming with me,"_ Jake signalled to Noah. The blue Ranger groaned. Now it was likely that if he asked either Emma or Jordan and if one agreed to help, the other would want to come too. He didn't mind having around, but really didn't want to be a third wheel in his own garage.

But it was better than nothing. He took the note from Troy and when Ms. Chesterfield turned to the blackboard, he threw it across the room.

Ms. Chesterfield turned around only seconds after Jordan caught the note and hid it in his fist. All eyes turned to the front of the class.

"Good behaviour. Get out," she announced as she let the students go. She had been tough on them, but they were a good group of kids. At the very least, she hoped this would put an end to their skipping class and tearing up quizzes.

"See you guys," Troy said as he left the school. He wanted to celebrate the news of his mother's pregnancy properly, knowing his reaction to the announcement hadn't been what his parents were expecting from him. To make up for it, he decided he would treat them to dinner as a family. It would be a good chance for him to really talk to both of his parents about what would happen. It was still months before the baby would be born, but Troy wanted to know what he would be in for.

"We've got to get to the field early for my practice," Jake said to Gia and he pulled her away. The excitement on his face that she had agreed to come watch another one of his games was obvious. And when Emma looked closely, she could see the feeling was mutual in Gia.

"They are so hooking up," Jordan commented. Emma shook her head.

"Gia's not ready yet."

"I mean when she is," Jordan smirked and then he turned to Noah, "So, you need a hand?"

"If you're free," Noah nodded. He walked to the door, and just as he suspected, Emma and Jordan both followed him, "I'm working on an upgrade for Robo-Knight."

"An upgrade?" Emma asked and grabbed Noah's arm, "Uh, I love the enthusiasm, but don't you think the guy's got enough power?"

"Not that kind of upgrade. I'm working on a chip that, once inserted, will kind of tone him down. He'll still be a monster killing machine, but more responsible about where he's shooting his gun and who he's endangering."

"So he won't be shooting at babies anymore?" Jordan asked. "Sounds like an upgrade to me."

"I haven't worked out all the kinks. Sometimes it helps if I have a fresh set of eyes. Normally I ask Jake to come have a look at what I've done. At best, he says something brilliant, at worst, we get off topic, and it takes my mind off my project long enough for a solution to just appear."

"I think we can do that," Emma nodded her head and looked to Jordan. He shrugged casually.

"I don't have any other plans."

-Megaforce-

Though Gia insisted there was plenty of time, Jake ran ahead, pulling his shirt over his head as he did. He approached his coach with a big smile.

"On time and ready."

"That's what I like to see," Conner said and pointed to the field, "Take some shots on net. Warm up the goalie. Oh, and Holling, what did you bring?"

Jake pointed over his shoulder to Gia. She walked up behind him and gave Conner a nod.

"Smooth, kid," Conner chuckled. He gave his player a pat on the back before sending him off, and then invited Gia to sit on the bench. He liked Jake, and he liked his friends. His theories about why Jake was so scatterbrained sometimes during games and in practice hadn't yet been confirmed, but he was pretty sure he knew what distracted the boy from soccer. He decided to cut him a little slack. He remembered having to juggle high school, his soccer career, and his Ranger duties. It had been very difficult.

Conner took a seat beside Gia, "You know, most of the guys brought stuff. Lucky socks, lucky cleats, even a lucky jock-strap."

"I was surprised too," Gia nodded. She knew Jake liked having her at his game. He had made that very clear, but to know he considered her a good luck charm felt… strange, but in a good way.

"So, are you two…?"

"We're just friends," Gia shook her head. "I'm not ready for anything."

"You sure? He's a good kid, and I'm not just saying that because I see a lot of myself in him. You might want to rethink your dating policy before someone else snatches him up. A guy can only wait so long before he gets bored. Even the hottest girls have an expiration date."

"But the right ones don't," Gia said, echoing words Serena had told her once in their many conversations. She turned to Conner, "You're right, he's a great guy. Any girl would be lucky to have him. If that's not me, then that's cool."

"Seriously?"

"It would suck," she added. She was terrified of losing Jake. So far, he had been the only boy to treat her right, something she thought would never happen after Cliff. She was too smart to dive into a relationship before she was ready, knowing that would only hurt her and worse than that, Jake, but she did wish something could happen, before someone else came along. Even if she just got a taste of what it was like to be with a good guy, she would be happy. She smiled at Conner, "but it would be for the best."

"I like you. Jake would be lucky to have you," Conner gave Gia a pat on the back, and then went to the field to coach his team.

-Megaforce-

"So… you put this doohickey into your roguebot, and he'll stop shooting babies?" Jordan asked as he stared at the chip Noah had shown him. Noah sighed, snatched his project from Jordan's hands, then rolled his eyes.

"See, this is why science students and art students don't get along. It's not a doohickey, it's a…"

"Hey, I do well in science. I want to be a police officer."

"Sketch artist would be best."

"No way," Jordan shook his head, "I want to be in the field. You know, taking the bad guys down. Like you Rangers do… only without the spandex and the monsters."

"Oh, you'll be faced with monsters," Emma said as she looked around Noah's garage. He had really taken over with all his projects and his equipment. She knew he was into science and robotics, but she had never imagined he was this passionate.

"Don't touch that!" Noah suddenly shouted as Emma reached over to touch a funny looking box. He snatched it up and moved it to a higher shelf, "It's a project gone wrong. It'll chop your fingers off if you don't handle it properly. Just keep your hands to yourself."

"Alright, sorry," Emma said, "Window shopping it is."

"So, I have another question," Jordan raised his hand. "When you do get this doohickey – I mean chip – to work, how are you going to get it on the tin can? Something tells me, he's not about to let you install a personality swapper."

"I haven't thought that far ahead yet," Noah rubbed the back of his neck, "I didn't think I would make this much progress so quickly."

"So what do you need our help with?"

"Making the chip compatible with Robo-Knight's software. The technology that makes him is far more advanced than anything man's ever seen."

"Even the Japanese?" Jordan asked.

"Yes, even the Japanese. And, if this works, it's going to make him even more advanced. This should give him emotions and a conscience. He'll know the difference between right and wrong. Not everything is going to be black and white for him."

"So he'll know sometimes it's best not to shot at monsters when it could put a human in danger?" Emma asked and Noah nodded his head.

"If it works. I just need to figure out how to make it compatible."

"I guess Googling it would be out of the question, then?" Jordan suggested. Noah rolled his eyes.

"Yeah."

"Well, this Gosei guy knows a lot about him, right? Why don't you just ask him?"

Emma turned to Noah, "Jordan's got a point. Gosei might as well help with something. Or even Tensou. I'll be he's got access to lots of information."

"Maybe. I'll give them a call. Just don't touch anything, guys. I can't promise everything in here is one hundred percent safe… or legal…"

"What?"

Noah stepped out of his garage to call Gosei and Tensou and see if they could be any help. When he was gone, Jordan picked up the chip again and took a closer look.

"Noah's got to be some kind of Mensa genius. This is incredible."

"Well, Gosei didn't pick us all for our looks."

"Doesn't mean you aren't still gorgeous," Jordan smirked as he pulled Emma into his arms. He kept the chip in his fist as he held her. "Hey, uh, you know… there's um… something I want to tell you."

"What's that?"

Jordan back away slightly. He looked very nervous. With the chip still in hand, he started to pace back and forth. He saw a strange looking gadget on a shelf and went to pick it up. When he was nervous, he liked to play around with something in his hands.

"Well, we've been together for a while now and… I think things are going well, and… you're really sweet, and smart, and pretty and… well… I… I…"

The gadget in his hand touched the chip. Before Jordan could say any more, he felt a shock travel up both his arms, and then through the rest of his body. He let out a painful cry as he dropped to the floor and started to twitch.

"Jordan?" Emma cried out as she dropped to her knees, unsure of what to do as she watched him twitch and scream uncontrollably. Noah ran back into his garage after hearing the scream. He grabbed Emma and pulled her away when he saw she was reaching out to touch Jordan.

"Don't! You'll hurt yourself!" he shouted as he held her back. "I told you not to touch anything!"

"I… I didn't… he…"

"Go call 911!"

Emma nodded her head. She got to her feet and ran for the door. Just as she reached for the doorknob, someone grabbed her arm and threw her across the garage and into the storage unit. As she tried to get up, she heard another crashing sound. She looked up and saw Jordan standing over Noah. The blue Ranger seemed to be in pain. Jordan seemed to be dangerous. He looked like he wanted to hurt Noah.

"Jordan! Stop!" Emma cried and her voice caught his attention. He turned around and walked over to her as she pulled herself up. He grabbed her by the neck and lifted her from the ground.

"Let her go!" Noah shouted and swung at Jordan's arm with a shovel, one of the few tools he allowed his father to keep in the garage. He heard a sickening crack and Jordan dropped Emma as he screamed. He turned around to Noah, saw the blue Ranger was still armed with a shovel, and thought it best to run. He didn't wait, or even try to open the garage door. Instead, he ran through it.

"How am I going to explain _that_ to my parents?" Noah asked before he looked over at Emma and helped her off the ground. "Are you okay?"

"You?"

He nodded, "What happened?"

"I don't know," Emma shrugged her shoulders. "We were just talking. He had the chip and that thing in his hand and suddenly… it happened."

Noah picked up the gadget Jordan had dropped, "Damn, it's fried. It's useless."

"What was it?"

"A failed experiment. I was trying to make a battery that would recharge itself. You know, for cell phones and stuff."

"A battery? You're saying a conscience chip and a battery did that to Jordan?" Emma pointed to the man shaped hole in Noah's garage door.

"A failed battery," Noah corrected her. Emma shook her head.

"We have to help him! He's hurt!"

"Emma, we have no idea where he's gone, or even how dangerous he is," Noah said. "Look, just go home…"

"But Jordan…!"

"Jake and Gia are out of town for a game," Noah said, "Troy's out to dinner with his parents. We have no idea where Jordan is and he's already tried to kill us once."

"So we just leave him out there? He's hurt! He's probably terrified! Your stupid battery probably messed with his head! He needs help!"

"I know," Noah nodded. "I'm going to see if there's anything I can do…"

"I want to help…"

"Go home."

"I want to help!"

"Emma, you're bleeding," Noah touched the side of her head and then showed her his bloodied fingers. "It's bad enough I've got a hole in the garage I'll need to explain to my parents, I don't want to have to cover up blood stains too. Go home, get cleaned up, calm down, and we'll talk in the morning at school. I should have something by then."

"But…"

"Don't make me call Gia," Noah threated. Emma glared and then stormed out. Though the hole Jordan had made was big enough to pass through with ease, she still used the door. She wanted to slam it. She wanted to make a point.


	105. Jordan's Threat

After Noah sent her away, Emma couldn't just go home. She had no idea why Jordan had turned on her, or what Noah's devices had done to him, but they had done something. The Jordan she had seen in Noah's garage was not the Jordan she knew. He needed help.

But it was hard to find him. After Noah had hit him in the arm with a shovel, he had run off. He was stronger and faster than usual, and he was long gone by the time Emma started her search. Tracking him down would be difficult, but not impossible. Emma was determined to find him and give him the help he needed.

She tried his favourite places around town. She didn't want to check his house because if he wasn't there, she would only worry his family. She stopped by Ernie's first and asked around but no one had seen him. Then she stopped at the coffee shop, the bookstore, the gym, and finally the art supply store. No one had even seen him. She went home, took her bike, and rode out to the woods. If he wasn't in town, she hoped he was out in the forest.

-Megaforce-

Jake's new soccer team was on fire. They had won their game by a landslide, defeating their opponents for a 5-0 victory, where Jake had scored three of the five goals. Though it hadn't been without help, Jake was definitely proving himself.

"This is why I keep you around, kid," Conner smirked as he gave Jake a pat on the back, and then he picked up the ball used for the match. Fortunately, the ref had agreed to use the ball Conner suggested, giving them a little extra luck on the field. "It's yours."

"What? Seriously?" Jake asked and looked down at the bright red ball. There were some scuff marks, but given its age it was still in a very good condition. Conner rarely ever used it. Jake couldn't believe he was holding, and now the owner of Conner McKnight's lucky soccer ball.

"You earned it."

"Thanks," Jake smiled. He said goodbye to his team and his teammates. They were going out to dinner, but he couldn't stay and celebrate. He had school the next morning and had to get himself and Gia back home. He met up with Gia on the bench and he saw her smiling. She hugged him.

"It was a great game."

"Thanks," Jake blushed. He had done what he could to make the game entertaining for her. Though he never really had a problem getting her to come to and stick around for his games, he was always worried she would lose interest. On the field, when he knew her eyes were on him, he tried to do some fancy tricks; nothing that would be too much of a risk, but enough to keep her eyes on him and on the field. He also did his best to score goals, knowing that getting the ball in the net would really impress her. It was why she was his good luck charm. He tried harder and played better when he knew she was around.

So he held out the ball for her. Gia looked at it, then up at Jake. She shook her head.

"You earned it."

"I want you to have it."

"Jake…"

"I'm serious."

Gia smiled as she accepted the ball and then gave Jake a kiss on the cheek. He blushed dark red, and while Gia made sure she had everything, he looked over to the field. His teammates were teasing him with kissy-faces. By now everyone knew he had a big crush on the girl he always brought to his games.

Suddenly, Gia grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the field. She dragged him behind the bleachers, pulling him out of sight. Jake could only imagine what his teammates were thinking now.

"It's Gosei," Gia told him, and passed him his bag. He pulled out his morpher and saw she was right. They were being called. He took out his morpher just as he and Gia were teleported to the command center.

Conner hurried over behind the bleachers but saw the two had disappeared. He had a quick look around, hoping he wouldn't spot them. When he didn't, a faint smirk appeared on his face.

-Megaforce-

Troy was lucky enough to have finished his evening with his parents when he got the call. They had just gotten home form dinner when Gosei summoned him. Fortunately, his parents assumed he was studying in his room so they wouldn't know he wasn't home.

When he arrived at the command center he saw Jake, Noah, and Gia were already there. Jake seemed to be fussing over Noah. As Troy got closer, he could see why. Noah looked hurt.

"What's happening, Gosei?" Troy asked. He assumed Noah's injuries had something to do with the reason the team had been called.

"There is a threat in the city I need you to address."

"Where in the city?" Gia asked as she looked at the screen beside her. There were no signs of mutants or aliens anywhere. Gosei pulled up and image from the woods and all four Rangers watched as something sped by quickly.

"You want us to stop it before it gets into the city?" Troy asked.

"I want to know what it is," Gosei said. "It does not appear to be Warstar or a mutant. My scans show it to be human."

"Human? So we're human hunting now?" Jake asked and he heard Noah gulp. He turned to his best friend, "Seriously, dude, what happened?"

"I'm working on it, okay," Noah shook his head. Tensou rolled into the room.

"Oh boy, you aren't going to like this," he approached the control panel in the center of the room and pulled up an image. The Rangers gathered around and had a look for themselves. It was getting dark outside, so it was hard to see the image clearly, but there was no doubting what they saw.

"That's Jordan!" Gia shouted and turned to Gosei, "What the hell? Your threat is Jordan? Look, Gosei, I can't say I'm his biggest fan, and don't tell Emma I said this, but he's actually a good guy. He's not a…"

"Where is Emma?" Troy asked. He had another look around the room, seeing the team was one Ranger short.

"I've sent her coordinates to your morphers," Tensou said. "I've tried calling her several times already, but she won't answer."

"That's it, I'm kicking his ass," Gia growled as she started to walk off. Troy grabbed her arm.

"Look, you said it yourself, Jordan's a good guy. Maybe something happened to him."

"It's not the first time I was a bad judge of character," Gia ripped her arm away from Troy and stormed off. Jake went after her, not wanting her out on her own.

Noah looked down at the picture on the screen and sighed. He looked up at Gosei, "Do you know what happened to him?"

Gosei never answered. It was likely he didn't have an answer, or he already knew Noah knew the answer. Troy looked to the blue Ranger, seeing he was upset about something.

"Jordan and Emma were with you. Any idea what could have led to this?"

He didn't want to sound like he was accusing Noah of anything, but he figured the blue Ranger had to know something. Noah nodded his head.

"I asked them to help me with an experiment I was working on. I came up with a little chip we could implant in Robo-Knight to give him emotions and a conscience. You know, so he knows right from wrong."

"Okay…"

"I left them both alone in my garage for a minute. Jordan apparently decided to get a closer look at the chip, and a failed project. It was a self-charging battery. When I thought it had failed, I drained it and left it on my shelf. I guess I didn't drain it completely. I think there was still enough juice to shock him when it came in close contact with the chip."

"So, Jordan got electrocuted and now Gosei thinks he's a threat?"

"I found the battery," Noah said. "Jordan dropped it when he was shocked. I've looked everywhere in my garage, there's no sign of the chip."

"You think Jordan still has it?"

"I think it did this," Noah nodded. "I told them not to touch anything. Jordan completely flipped on us after it happened. I know Emma and I aren't the greatest fighters, but he took us both out easily. Had I not grabbed a shovel, he would have killed her."

"So then Gosei's right. He is dangerous."

"What do we do?"

"First, we get Jordan back to your place safely. If you came up with the chip that did this to him, I'm sure you can undo this."

Noah nodded his head uncertainly, "I hope so."


	106. A Superior Being

Emma tip-toed through the woods and she was careful about where she went and how much noise she made. Prior to becoming a Ranger, she knew these woods like the back of her hand and never thought twice about coming this far into the forest on her own. But now that she knew there were monsters ready to attack the city or her at any time, she wanted to make sure nothing and no one caught her by surprise. She was sure Gia and the Morans were going to scream at her if they found out she had been by herself.

But looking for Jordan was her only concern. He was hurt, and though it wasn't her fault, it had happened because Noah had tried to come up with a solution for Robo-Knight. It had happened due to Ranger business. She did feel responsible for Jordan getting hurt and caught up in this mess.

She heard someone talking by the stream, and quietly made her way over. Years of tracking down skittish animals so she could take pictures was paying off, as she knew how to sneak around undetected through the woods. She knelt behind some bushes and peeked over slightly, being careful not to let herself be seen.

It was Jordan, washing up in the water from the stream. His arm appeared to be hurt from when Noah hit him with the shovel. Emma had heard a crack and assumed his arm was broken. However, from the looks of things, he had mended it with a splint made of branches and plants from the forest. She knew it would be hard to explain to a doctor what had happened, but at least he would get the help he needed and a proper cast for his arm. She knew he needed someone, so she stepped out of the bushes. He looked over at her, scoffed, and then went back to cleaning himself off. Emma approached him cautiously.

"Are you okay?"

"Get lost," he growled.

"I can help," she told him. "I can take you to a doctor or the hospital. We'll come up with a lie to explain this and they'll fix you up. They'll make sure the shock didn't hurt you and that your arm…"

"I said," Jordan rose from the water, "get lost."

"Are you… are you blaming me for this?" it was the only explanation Emma could come up with for why Jordan was being so hostile towards her. "I had no idea this was going to happen, or that Noah's work was dangerous. And to be fair, you did touch his stuff when he said not…"

"Get lost!" Jordan shouted again and he lunged at her, pinning her to the ground. Though he was holding his broken arm close to his body, the strength from his one good arm was enough to keep Emma down. She struggled to get out from under him, but he was stronger than she could ever remember him being.

"I want to help…"

"I don't need your help," Jordan told her. "I don't need anyone's help."

He got off her, pulled her up to her feet, and then forcefully shoved her away. Emma stumbled and fell into the dirt again. When she looked up, she saw Jordan glaring at her hatefully.

"Something's different with you," she said. He laughed.

"You think? I'm stronger and smarter than I used to be. Everything I've never understood before is all so clear to me. I know things I've never even known about before."

"What…?"

"I'm better," Jordan told her. "I'm a better, stronger, more capable human being. I don't need you. I don't need any of you."

Emma shook her head. She got back to her feet and approached Jordan, "Okay, this isn't you talking, Jordan. That chip… it must have done something. You sound crazy…"

"Crazy? You think I'm crazy?"

"Listen to yourself, Jordan! Just let me help you!" she reached out to grab his arm, but Jordan reacted quickly. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it painfully. He forced her down to her knees and kept a hold of her wrist.

"You don't dare interfere. I'm not crazy, I don't need help. After seeing what I can be, there's no way I'm ever going back to my old self. Not when this is so much better. I'm an updated version. A newer model. I am far better than any of you humans can ever hope to be. Why would I want to go back?"

"You're hurting me," Emma whimpered as she tried to pry her wrist free from Jordan's grip. He simply looked down at her and laughed.

His joy was cut short. While he was busy watching Emma, he missed someone coming him way. He was kicked square in the chest. He stumbled backward and let go of Emma's wrist so he could use his arms to catch his balance. He barely had time, though, before another kick hit him right in the jaw. He spun around and fell to the ground.

A weight landed on top of him, rolled him over to his back. He smiled when he looked up and saw Gia.

"Well, I guess it was only a matter of time before you…"

"If I don't like you kissing Emma, what makes you think I'll ever tolerate you hurting her?" Gia grabbed Jordan's shirt and slammed him into the ground. Behind her, the boys arrived. Troy and Noah stopped with Emma to make sure she was okay. Jake kept his eyes on Gia and Jordan.

Gia continued to beat into Jordan. She wanted to wipe the sick smirk off his face, but nothing she did erased it. She tried threats and punches, but he wasn't scared of her. Jordan seemed to be enjoying it.

"Cute," he eventually muttered before he grabbed her by the throat. Gia grabbed his arm and tried to pry his hand away from her neck but she couldn't. His grip was too strong. With him in full control, he got up, pulling Gia up with him. Then he reached for her hip, where she had clipped her morpher, knowing that it was possible she would need it. Gosei had warned her Jordan was a threat, and while no one wanted to believe he was dangerous, they didn't want to keep their morphers out of reach in their bags.

"Jordan, let her go!" Jake shouted and he had his morpher in his hand. "C'mon, man, this isn't you."

"Watch this," Jordan said to Jake and the others. He saw Gia's card to morph was already in place, so he closed the mouth, had her hold the morpher, and watched her morph before him. Then he took her blaster from her belt. He let go of her neck so he could hold the blaster in his good arm. Gia dropped to her knees to catch her breath while Jordan levelled the blaster at her head.

"Power down."

Now morphed, Gia thought she had an advantage. She caught her breath enough to be ready to attack. She lunged at Jordan, but he shot her in the chest. She dropped to the ground, powered down instantly and against her will. By now, Jake was morphed. He pointed his blaster at Jordan and was ready to shoot when suddenly Emma grabbed his arm. His fire missed his target. Jake turned to her.

"What the hell?"

"You were going to hit Jordan!"

"That's kind of the point!" Jake cried. He turned to try and shoot again, but Jordan was gone. On his way out, he had dragged Gia into the stream. Jake ripped his arm away from Emma and pulled Gia out.

"Are you okay?" he powered down and pulled off his sweater. He draped it over her shoulders and hugged her. Gia winced slightly when his arms were wrapped around her.

Emma looked around for Jordan, assuming he couldn't go very far. As she was about to take off, Troy and Noah held her back.

"We don't know what we're dealing with," Troy told her. "Gosei thinks Jordan might be a threat…"

"You think?" Jake growled as he held Gia gently. He started to walk her home, insisting he be the one to take her back. Troy nodded and let his two teammates go before he turned to Emma.

"Look, Jordan…"

"That wasn't Jordan."

"It looked like him to me."

Emma shook her head then glared at Noah, "Your stupid chip must have done something…"

"Emma, he was shocked pretty badly," Noah shrugged his shoulders. "If he hurt his brain, who knows what could have…"

"You turned him into that!" Emma screamed and pointed to the spot where Jordan had been bathing in the stream. "Your stupid chip made him mean!"

"Your wrist looks a little swollen," Troy grabbed her hand, "You should go home and put some ice on it."

"Jordan's arm is broken! He's hurt! He's not himself! We need to help!"

"Emma, if his arm is broken, then with one arm he got the better of you, and he kicked Gia's ass," Troy grabbed her and looked right at her, "I don't want to leave him out here either, but we have to regroup and figure something out. We can't just rush in after him again."

"But…"

"We're taking you home," Troy ordered as he grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

-Megaforce-

Though she didn't have to, Gia snuck her way past her parents, trying her best to hide the fact that she was wet and hurt. Her parents knew she was a Ranger, but she had no idea they knew. When Emma found out, they all agreed it was best to keep quiet. The less the secret was known, the better it was for everyone.

Jake stayed with Gia, and walked with her upstairs. She sat on her bed and took off Jake's sweater and then her jacket.

"There's a first aid kit in the bathroom," Gia said. "It's tucked away under the sink. You might have to look for it."

"That's smart," Jake told her and as he walked to the bathroom, he wondered why he hadn't thought of that. He had come up with many ways of covering up his cuts, scrapes, and bruises with regular band-aids, but having a first aid kit would be a lot easier for after battles. He dug around in the bathroom until he found it and he brought it back to Gia's bedroom. He set it down beside her on the bed.

"I'll get you a towel too," he said, seeing she was still a little wet from having been dragged into the stream. Gia nodded, then she opened the first-aid kit and tried to get to work on her burn. Her Ranger suit had protected her somewhat, but she had been shot at close range, so the burn from the blast was pretty bad.

"And the one from Robo-Knight had only just started healing," she muttered to herself and did her best to clean out the burn. It was hard to work on her chest. She could barely see what she was doing, and she didn't want to hurt herself, so applying any pressure to clean was next to impossible.

Jake came back with the towel, saw Gia needed help and held out his hand. She stared at it, and then up at him.

"What?"

"Let me do it."

"If you think I'm letting your hands anywhere near my chest, Holling…"

"Gia, I just want to help. I've earned that much, haven't I?"

Gia sighed, but she put the cloth in his hand. Jake knelt, had a look at what he was dealing with in regards to the burn, and then he glanced up at Gia, "You need to take your shirt off."

"Excuse me?"

"Your shirt is covering some of the burn, and it's going to get in the way of me cleaning and bandaging it," Jake said. He looked up at Gia, "I'm just trying to help, I swear."

"Jake…"

"You can trust me, Gia. I'm not trying anything, I swear."

"Turn around."

"Why?"

"I don't want you to watch me taking it off," Gia said. She grabbed Jake's head and turned it, "I'll tell you when it's off."

"The end result is the same," Jake shrugged but he kept his eyes on the wall until he got the okay from Gia. He turned back around.

"Whoa…"

"Jake!" Gia used her shirt to cover herself. Jake sighed.

"Sorry. I couldn't help it. I'm focused, though, I swear."

"On the burn!"

"Yeah, on the burn. Move the shirt."

Gia did so, and then tried to focus on something else in her room. She knew Jake wasn't pushing his luck, and she did trust him. She trusted her doctor too, but she still didn't like seeing him for check-ups. It had to do with feeling vulnerable, and feeling uncomfortable when she was so exposed, and not in control. Though Jake probably didn't know it, he had her right where he wanted her. If he did try something, Gia wasn't sure she would be strong enough to fight it.

But Jake did know. He did his best to clean out the burn and bandage it up so it could recover properly, but from time to time he glanced up to see how Gia was doing. He saw the tears in her eyes. He knew this was tough for her. When he finished, the first thing he did was put the towel around her.

"I'll put this away while you get changed into some dry clothes," he said and gathered up the first-aid kit. "I can hide the used stuff in the bottom of the trash so your parents don't notice."

"Please," Gia whispered. Jake left the room and he closed the door behind him. He walked back into the bathroom and discarded the used cloths, making sure they were out of sight. He doubt Gia's parents would dig through the trash. Then he cleaned up the first aid-kit so it looked like it had when he opened it, and he put it back exactly where he found it.

Then he had to take a deep breath. Gia had always been very attractive. It was no secret she was the hottest girl in Harwood County High. But Jake hadn't been prepared for what he had seen. He knew she was in shape. She had been before her time as a Ranger started, and certainly all the training would keep her fit, meaning she had an amazing body. He had barely been able to hold himself in, and it had been the hardest thing he had ever done keeping his mind focused on his task.

When he was comfortable leaving the bathroom, he did so. He knocked on the bedroom door to see if Gia was decent. She called him in.

"Thanks," she whispered when she saw him. "You did a good job."

"You should get some rest," he told her. "You took that blast from pretty close up. I'm surprised you can walk."

"I'm a little dizzy."

Jake nodded and walked her back from her dresser over to her bed. As she climbed in, he smiled at her.

"It must have been hard."

"Yeah… thanks for not…"

"I wouldn't think of it," he told her. "I'd never do that to you, Gia. But I was talking about Jordan."

"What?"

"What he did to Emma? Surely that had to remind you of Cliff."

"I just saw she was in trouble. I didn't even think about that."

"You really kicked his ass. You know, before he went all psycho superman on you."

"Any idea what could have come over him?"

"I don't know," Jake shrugged his shoulders. "I'll talk to the guys and Emma about it. We'll fill you in tomorrow."

"Thanks. Now get out of my room, Holling."

"Sure," Jake chuckled. "Get some rest."

He left, closing the door and turning the light off as he did. When Gia heard him walking down the stairs, she reached into her bed, deep under her blankets, and then grabbed the stuffed tiger he had given her. She hugged it close enough to her chest so as not to hurt her burns, but just enough to know it was there.

Then she began to sob. Her feelings terrified her.


	107. What Happened To Jordan

When Emma came home, the Morans could see there was something up. Jake and Gia were already upstairs, and Emma brought home the rest of the Ranger team. Assuming that meant they were on duty, Mrs. Moran made an excuse to leave the house to go to the store, while Mr. Moran went to hide in the den. They wanted a safe place for the kids to be able to talk, without having to worry someone would overhear them.

Emma sat on the couch with her head in her hands. She had no idea what was going on or what to do. Her attempt at helping Jordan had already proven to be stupid. Her walk home had given her time to think. She already knew going out to the woods by herself was stupid, but with Jordan in his current state, her mistake had nearly cost her and her teammates.

"What did your chip do?"

"I'm looking it up," Noah was already working on his computer. He had programmed the chip to work with Robo-Knight. He had never even considered the possibility of using it on a human before. For now, all he knew was that when his homemade self-recharging battery touched the chip, it had energized it. However, he wasn't sure if the chip was doing something to Jordan, or just the fact that he seemed to have gotten shocked pretty badly. He had heard of lightning strikes causing people to change and even adopt skills they had never possessed before. Perhaps Jordan had just been so shocked, his brain had been reprogrammed.

"Look it up faster."

"I told you both not to touch anything. I warned you to leave my stuff alone."

"Guys, that's enough," Troy stated sternly as he looked at both Rangers. "It's bad enough something's happened to turn Jordan against us. We don't need to be fighting each other. Jordan shouldn't have been messing around, but arguing about whose fault this is isn't going to get him back! Noah, you keep doing whatever you're doing. Emma, hold still. I'll wrap up your wrist."

Noah rolled his eyes as he went back to his research. Emma huffed, but let Troy take her wrist. While he wrapped it up gently, there were footsteps coming down the stairs.

Jake was just about to leave the house when he heard the clicking of keys from a computer. He walked to the living room and saw the rest of his team was gathered there. He took a seat beside Noah on the loveseat.

"Gia's going to be fine," he announced. He glanced over to Noah's screen, "What's that?"

"Possibly the cause for Jordan's weird behaviour," Noah said without pausing his work for a moment. With Jake always by his side, he had learned to work through many different types of distractions: talking, excessive questions about what he was doing, and even balls bouncing around the room. "I was creating a chip that would hopefully reprogram Robo-Knight so he would be essentially the same, only he would know right from wrong."

"He would have a conscience," Emma explained. "He wanted to make Robo-Knight better but instead he just made my boyfriend…"

"I told him not to touch anything!" Noah snapped. He slammed his laptop shut. "If he had just listened to me…"

"You wanted to make Robo-Knight good, but I guess you're not the brainiac scientist we all thought you were, because your stupid chip made Jordan powerful and evil!" Emma screamed.

"It wasn't a make him good device," Jake said, standing up for his best friend without trying to upset Emma. He didn't want to cross her. "He said reprogram. Look, I don't know a lot about computers and science and all that stuff, but even I know what reprogram means."

"And what does reprogram mean, Jake?" Emma crossed her arms over her chest and glared.

"It means you're reprogramming something…"

"It's to program something again," Noah stated as he opened up his laptop again, "You two are geniuses!"

"Hey, sweet!" Jake smiled as he turned to his best friend, "Wait? Why?"

"Look, it's a stretch, but I think I've got something. I wanted the chip to work on Robo-Knight, but I haven't gotten that far yet. I think, at the stage I'm at, my chip can reprogram anything."

"And that means?" Jake asked.

"His brain?" Troy tried. "You didn't just seriously invent something that could change the way a person… behaves, did you?"

"I'm going to have to check," Noah said. "But the brain stores everything. If that chip went to his brain, then we might have our answer for what happened to him."

"What happened is…"

"Emma, not now," Troy shook his head. "Noah, you keep working on that. The faster you come up with answers, the better."

"What answers?" Emma asked as she got up. "He's not finding a cure! We know what happened!"

"But not why," Noah told her. He looked up from his computer just long enough to reassure Emma, "Look, I'm doing my best to help. I want Jordan back on our side just as much as you do."

"No, you don't," Emma shook her head. "I'm going to bed. Do whatever you want, guys."

She left the boys to work in the living room and stormed up to her room. In her frustration, she forgot Gia was resting in the room next to hers and slammed the door shut. She lay in bed and stared up at the ceiling.

"Are you okay?" Gia's voice startled her. Emma looked over, seeing her best friend standing in the doorway. She nodded her head an invited her in.

"I guess I woke you up."

"It's okay. I wanted to see you," Gia said. As she approached the bed, Emma saw tear stains on her cheeks. She looked up at her in horror, realizing what her running off alone to find Jordan had done.

"Gia, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have seen that…"

"Why? It happened," Gia shrugged. "I'm just glad I was there to help. Sorry about, you know… beating him up."

"Are you okay?"

"I think I asked you first," Gia said, "I know how horrible it can be."

Emma looked down at her wrist, "It's just a sprain."

"Ice works even more," Gia told her. "It'll reduce the pain and keep it from swelling too much. Ice it for the first three days. Let me get some…"

"It's not bad," Emma grabbed Gia's arm before she could leave, "And I'm not trying to pretend it didn't happen. I know that wasn't Jordan."

"Don't lie to me," Gia shook her head, "Especially about this. You know it wasn't Jordan, but it still hurts. Tell me the truth."

Emma turned her head away and shrugged her shoulders, "This is different, Gia…"

"Jordan's different from Cliff, I know. But he still hurt you. Be honest."

"I want him back," Emma looked up at Gia. "This isn't him. Something happened and I… I want him back."

Gia nodded her head and pulled Emma into her arms, "Yeah, I know. We will get him back."

"What about you? Are you okay?"

"This is about you, Emma…"

"You were crying, Gia," Emma looked up. "Are you okay? Don't lie to me."

"I'm… just scared."

"You don't have to be," Emma hugged her best friend tight. "We're… we're getting Jordan back, right?"

"Right. I'll make sure of it."

"And Cliff's gone."

"Yeah."

"So it's okay. It's got to be okay."

"Yeah," Gia nodded her head, hugged Emma, and sighed softly. She wasn't scared of what had happened with Jordan, but she wasn't sure of what it was she was scared.


	108. A Possible Solution

Noah spent the entire night working on trying to figure out what had caused Jordan to turn. Though he had designed the chip to work on Robo-Knight, he hadn't yet gotten it to the stage where it was programmed to work solely on Robo-Knight. He figured that when the chip and his battery, which seemed to have some juice left in it despite Noah draining it, came in contact, the battery charged the chip and the chip, instead of reprogramming Robo-Knight to have a conscience it super powered Jordan and removed or altered his.

The brain functioned a lot like a computer. It stored information, memories, and even skills. If something happened to the brain, a person could change completely. If it wasn't electrocution from the shock that gave Jordan his personality adjustment, then it was surely the doing of the chip.

Noah did feel badly about what had happened. While he had warned Emma and Jordan not to touch anything, it was still his creation that had hurt his friend. He had been trying to do a good thing for Robo-Knight, and he kept reminding himself of that, but it wasn't the first time his experiments had caused trouble. One of the reasons he had the garage to work in was because his mother didn't want to risk having to rebuild the house. A few small explosions had been enough to shut down the basement lab. Some solutions had even made Noah sick just by the smell, his father had gone to the hospital once was a malfunction robotic arm, and Jake had broken a leg once as a child and had a sit out an entire soccer season because of a soccer training device Noah had invented.

He had a lot of failures under his belt, and this was another one. Fortunately, he had a solution. It wouldn't make things better than they were before the accident, but at least it would bring everything back to normal.

He walked into school with big, dark circles under his eyes. He hadn't slept at all.

"You look horrible," Jake said when he spotted the blue Ranger at his locker, "How late did you stay up?"

"Whatever time it is, that's how late I stayed up," Noah stuffed his entire bag into his locker. He didn't bother to empty out the books he wouldn't need. "I got something, though."

"You do?"

Noah opened the side pocket of his bag and pulled out a small microchip, just like the one that had turned Jordan. He put it in Jake's had.

"It'll undo what the last one did. All you have to do it get it on Jordan, charge it up and he'll be back to Jordan."

"How do we charge it?"

"Here," Noah pulled out a small device from his bag, "I made this too. It's essentially a battery. Have it touch the chip when the chip is touching Jordan, and we should be good."

"Is it safe?"

"It should be…"

"Dude, we need something safe," Jake shook his head as he handed both the chip and the battery back to Noah. "Look, I trust you and your crazy inventions, you know I do, I just… there's a lot at stake here. If you need an extra day, I'm sure Emma will understand."

"I'm sure it's safe," Noah repeated. "Look, I'll even…"

"No, I will…"

"No, I will," Gia took the chip from Noah's hand and looked at both boys, "Noah, if this does malfunction, we'll need you to come up with something else. There's no way you're testing this out."

"Exactly what I was going to say," Jake reached for the chip, but Gia held it away. He sighed, "Gia, Noah's tested stuff on me hundreds of times…"

"Well, maybe a hundred and one will be safer, but it sure as hell won't be this. If this doesn't work, or even does the opposite of what it's supposed to do…"

"You'll get hurt," Jake held out his hand, "Gia, let me…"

The bell rang, signalling the start of the day. Gia gave Jake a knowing look as he rushed to his locker to grab his books so he wouldn't be late. Noah dragged his feet as he walked slowly to class, and he looked like he was going to fall asleep on the way there.

Gia looked down at the chip and sighed.

"You know, my sensei once told me a good leader never asks his team to do what he wouldn't do himself," Troy said as he walked up to Gia. "Is that Noah's solution?"

"I overheard him and Jake talking," Gia nodded. "Noah thinks this will re-reprogram Jordan."

"Thinks. Maybe I should be the one to try it, then…"

"You're the leader. If something goes wrong, the others will need someone to turn to."

"You're a good leader. I trust you in my absence…"

"I trust you would do whatever it takes," Gia looked at Troy, "Noah… at worst, it'll just take a few tries before he comes up with something, but this is his strong suit. He'll get it. And I trust Jake and Emma to… bring me back… if something happens. I'm the only person right for this."

"Emma's too emotionally involved," Troy nodded his head, "You have a point with me and Noah, but what about Jake?"

"No."

"He's been around Noah's technology a lot longer. He knows this stuff a bit better than we do…"

"No."

"Gia…"

"I said no. Next time we see Jordan, I'm trying this."

"You don't owe Emma anything. Or even Jake for that matter," Troy followed Gia as she walked down the hall to class, "Isn't that what friendship is about? Helping each other. Supporting each other. Gia, you can't just…"

"I've thought this through, Troy," she walked into the classroom and the conversation had to end. Troy let out a sigh as he took his usual seat.

-Megaforce-

Back at home, Emma was taking the day off school. What had happened with Jordan was keeping her too distracted and she would be no good sitting at a desk and trying to listen to her teachers all day. Her time was best spent at home, working up the courage to possibly have to face Jordan again, and this time, actually fight him.

Mr. Moran was at work. With Mrs. Moran quitting her job, he needed to earn as much money as he could, and for that, he couldn't miss work. He was looking at asking for a raise soon, but wanted to increase his chances of being successful by increasing his work performance.

Mrs. Moran was free all day, every day. She and her husband had decided it was best for both girls if they had at least one parent at home at all times of the day. With Gia still suffering from her relationship with Cliff, and new concerns rising up frequently because of his abuse, and with Emma still hurt from her parents abandoning her to live out their own dreams, the Morans couldn't afford not to be around in case the girls needed them.

She wanted to leave Emma alone for the day. Over breakfast, she had learned what had happened to Jordan that necessitated that Emma stay home from school. However, she had something she wanted to say. She walked into the living room and turned off the TV. Emma turned to her.

"What?"

"This thing with Jordan…"

"We'll get him back," Emma said, though she didn't seem certain. "You might want to talk to his parents, though. Let them think he's staying here. They're probably worried…"

"Let them worry. Their son is in trouble," Mrs. Moran said. "Once we know he's safe and he'll be okay, then we'll lie. That's how this works."

"Whatever you want," Emma reached for the remote. Mrs. Moran stood in the way.

"How's your wrist?"

"It's fine. I iced it, like Gia said…"

"Good. What about Gia?"

"Vanessa…"

"Emma, we're not stupid. Joe and I saw the bandages in the bathroom."

"You looked?"

"Of course we looked. We're her parents. She was all worked up last night when I went to say goodnight to her. I had to know what happened."

"Well, whatever she said…"

"She didn't tell me anything. What happened?"

"Jordan was hurting me," Emma said, "Like I told you. He did this," she held up her wrist, "Gia stopped him. He took a couple shots at her."

"Shots?"

"With our blaster," Emma nodded. "She'll be okay. She was morphed."

"Emma, I want to know…"

"We're going to get hurt," Emma said and shrugged her shoulders. "You can't worry every time. This stuff happens. This is why we don't want you knowing in the first place."

"And I wish I didn't know," Mrs. Moran walked to the couch and sat down beside Emma, "I can hardly sleep at night now. Every day with you and with Gia could be the last and…"

"Don't think that way…"

"I can't help it," Mrs. Moran wrapped her arms around Emma, "Look, I promise Joe and I will stay out of this as much as possible but… if we do get caught up, like Jordan… you save you."

"Vanessa…"

"No. You may be a Ranger, but to me, you're Emma. No matter who you are, no matter what you do, it is my responsibility to protect you. You save you, and you save Gia, do you understand me?"

"Just don't need saving," Emma nodded her head. "This is one promise I'm not sure I can…"

"Emma, if I lose you or Gia, my life isn't worth living. I know Joe agrees with me on that. And it's better to have one Ranger alive and a civilian dead, than a Ranger dead. You do what's best for you, for your team, and for this planet. Never let your emotions get in the way. Do you understand?"

"This doesn't just apply to you and Joe does it?" Emma looked up at Mrs. Moran, "If I hadn't let my love for Jordan get in the way… if I hadn't gotten so caught up in trying to save him and keep him from getting hurt… maybe the team could have done something to help."

"It's a tough decision," Mrs. Moran nodded her head. "You're going to make a lot of those."

"Maybe Robo-Knight's on to something with this emotionless garbage," Emma sighed. "He'd have gotten Jordan back to normal without a problem."

"No, he'd have blasted the boy's head off his shoulders," Mrs. Moran said. "I'm not telling you not to have emotions. I'm telling you not to let them control you. Sometimes, you've got to break a few eggs."

Emma nodded her head and hugged her knees to her chest, "Being a Ranger sucks…"

"I'll bet it does," Mrs. Moran kissed the side of Emma's face, "Being a Ranger parent, and not being able to help, sucks just as much. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

"Doing what?"

"I was thinking of making cookies."

"Chocolate chip?"

"Peanut butter," Mrs. Moran shook her head. "You can help me, though."

"I prefer chocolate chip."

"Maybe next time. I think, after school, Gia would like some of her favourite cookies, don't you?"

Emma nodded her head, "I guess my diet kind of has taken over the menu lately. So what do we need?"


	109. At All Costs

_Author's Note: Sorry for the confusion. This chapter (At All Costs) was supposed to come after the last. I wrote these chapters out and revised them a month ago, but apparently I failed to notice that twice I saved chapter 106. So for those who have already read At All Costs, you can go back to the last chapter and catch up there. Sorry about the confusion. I know the story doesn't make sense when there's a little bit of information missing, but it's got it all straighten out now. Thanks to KLR for pointing that out!_

_Hope you all enjoy, and I hope this makes more sense now!_

Gia wasn't used to being at school without Emma, but she made the best of her day by focusing on her classes. Without talking to Emma as a distraction, Gia picked up on the lessons even faster than usual. By the time lunch rolled around, she had already finished her homework for all three of her classes, and was getting a head start on her final period.

"You mean all this time you were holding out on us?" Jake teased her as he sat next to her in the cafeteria, "Dude, can't you wait until you learn the lesson?"

"Dude?"

"Sorry," Jake chuckled, "It's probably not a turn on."

Gia shook her head as she returned her focus on her homework. Noah and Troy sat down opposite to the black and yellow Rangers. Noah looked ready to fall asleep. He had already done so at least once in all three classes.

"You should have stayed home," Troy chuckled. He clapped his hands beside Noah's ear to wake him up.

"I had to get the chip to you guys."

"Speaking of," Troy turned to Gia. She looked up and shook her head.

"I hid it."

"Where?"

Gia pointed to her shirt and smirked. She knew the boys respected her enough not to not even try to make her uncomfortable. Troy sighed.

"Can't you at least tell us why you're the best person to test out Noah's chip?"

"It works," Noah said, but he seemed barely awake enough to have any idea what he was saying, or what was being said. For all Troy, Gia, and Jake knew, he was sleep-talking.

"I have my reasons. And good ones too."

"Gia, I know Noah's tech. Let me take this hit," Jake offered his hand. "Jordan's already shot you. How are we going to explain you turning evil to your parents?"

"Troy can find a way," Gia kept her eyes on her paper, "He knew how to calm Emily and Mike down. Maybe he'll dream something up."

Troy furrowed his brow, "Gia, we need to talk about this. As your friends, we don't want you to…"

A noise from his bag interrupted him. Gia smirked, reached into her own bag, which made the same noise, and dug out her morpher. She held it in the center of the table.

"What is it, Gosei?"

"Meet me in the park."

Noah, who had almost been sound asleep when the morphers went off, was now wide awake when he thought he heard Jordan's voice. He looked around at the others. They were all equally surprised. Gia's knuckles turned white as she gripped her morpher tightly. She could only think of one way Jordan could be communicating to her and the others through the morpher.

"Where's Emma?"

"Cute," Jordan answered. "The park in five minutes."

"Or what?" Jake asked but there was Noah answer. Noah looked up at him.

"Or something bad. Do you know how long it took me to explain the man shaped hole in my garage door to my parents? He's got power and he knows how to use it."

"We've got to go," Gia announced and the boys nodded their heads. They jumped up and raced out of the cafeteria.

Ms. Chesterfield had been watching them from the other side of the room, saw them all darting off together and sighed. Wherever they were going, they had about half an hour to get back so they were on time for class. If not, there would be another detention.

-Megaforce-

Emma and Mrs. Moran had gotten a little carried away with the cookies. The first batch had been eaten shortly after they had finished baking, and so in order for there to be cookies for when Gia returned home, another batch needed to be made.

"If anyone asks," Mrs. Moran chuckled. "We spent the morning eating fruits and vegetables. No one needs to know where the first batch of cookies went."

"What first batch?" Emma smirked as she put the second tray of cookies in the oven. Then she heard a beeping sound from her bag. She walked over to the kitchen table and pulled out her morpher. Mrs. Moran looked over her shoulder.

"That thing is huge!"

"Tell me about it," Emma muttered. She was just about to ask Gosei what was happening when she heard Jordan's voice.

"Meet me in the park."

"Is that…?" Mrs. Moran asked and Emma nodded her head.

"I don't get it," Emma said, "I've heard of tapping into the police frequency, but I thought morphers were more secure than that."

"Where's Emma?" there was no denying that was Gia. Mrs. Moran grabbed Emma's arm and squeezed it.

"You should go. And remember what we talked about."

Emma nodded her head and put her morpher away. She had to help her friends fight Jordan. Ultimately, she wanted him back and she didn't want him hurt, but Mrs. Moran was right. Her team came first.

She clipped her morpher to her jeans and ran out of the house. When she was far enough away from her neighbours, she morphed. As quickly as she could, she ran to the park. Her house was closer than the school, so she was the first to arrive. She saw Jordan standing by the pond. She pulled out her blaster.

"Jordan, you know I don't want to do this. This isn't you. Noah's chip…"

"Made me better," Jordan pulled out a similar blaster and pointed it at Emma, "Look familiar."

"How did you…?"

"And what about this?" Jordan reached into his pocket, where he pulled out a smaller version of the Rangers' morpher. He held it up and showed it to Emma. "I decided it needed to be a little more compact. Jealous?"

"You have to at least remember us, Jordan," Emma said, and she wished the visor wasn't covering her face. She knew trying to talk Jordan down would be easier if they could look each other in the eyes. However, she couldn't risk putting herself in danger. She had learned that lesson.

"Yeah, I do," Jordan teased and shrugged his shoulder casually. "It was fun. But I've moved on. I can't waste my time on love anymore. Not when there are better things I can be doing. For starters: taking over this city."

"I'm not letting you do that," Emma shook her head. Jordan chuckled.

"You do amuse me. You've had your gun trained on me for five minutes now, and you've done nothing to threaten me with it. Do you really think I'm scared you're going to shoot?"

Emma nodded her head and fired at shot at Jordan's feet. She still didn't want to hurt him, and so made sure to miss, but she got close enough to prove her point. Jordan looked to where her shot landed, growled, and instantly he morphed.

His suit was similar to the Rangers, and in fact, it was almost completely identical to Troy's except in colour. Jordan had a dark red suit, with black where Troy wore white.

"So what, you're the prince of darkness?" Emma asked. "Jordan, you're in there somewhere. This isn't you. You wanted to be a cop, remember?"

"I can do so much better," Jordan shook his head and he fired at her. Emma summoned her Phoenix Shot and blocked the blast with her weapon. Then she fired again at Jordan. As he busied himself trying to avoid her shots, she rushed him. She smacked his blaster from his hand and hit him hard over the head with her Phoenix Shot. The helmet kept him from any real damage, but she hit him hard enough to knock him over. She jumped on top of him, pinning him down.

"Alright, Jordan, this is not how I pictured this going," she said as she looked at him, "But I love you, and I know right before whatever happened, you were going to tell me you love me. I know you're in there. I know you feel it too. You can fight this, you have to…"

Jordan's hands were tightly wrapped around her throat. Emma grabbed his wrists as she struggled to breathe. Jordan got out from underneath her and forced her on the ground on her back.

"If I want this city, I have to get through you Rangers. If I kill my _beloved_, I'll show your friends that there's nothing that can stop me."

"Tiger Claw!" one swipe from Gia knocked him down. Emma broke free and got up to her knees. She massaged her neck as Troy and Noah knelt beside her to make sure she was okay.

"He's a Ranger?" Noah asked. Emma nodded her head.

"He's stronger, smarter, and completely evil. I tried to talk some sense into him, but he wouldn't listen."

"He can't," Noah told her. "I think my chip reprogrammed him brain. Gia's got one that'll set him back to normal."

"So he is like a computer?"

"If that's easier for you," Noah helped Emma up from the ground. "If my chip does work, which it will, it'll set him back to who he used to be. He'll have a conscience and stop with this."

Noah gestured around the park. By now, Jordan was locked in a fierce battle with Gia, Jake, and Troy, and he was doing really well. Before this, when he trained, Jordan was easily the bottom of the pack when it came to martial arts. He didn't have the advantage the Rangers had with their suits and their on the job training. But Noah's chip had changed him into a stronger, smarter human, and it seemed to also have a strong influence on his abilities. Jake was taken out first, being knock through a tree and forced to power down. Troy and Gia tried a double-team, but were blasted back by a new weapon Jordan pulled out from his belt, and they too powered down. Emma watched in horror.

Noah morphed just to be safe and he touched her arm, "We've got to fight."

"I know. I'm ready. You?"

Noah nodded his head and rushed into the fight with Emma. Seeing Jordan had just outmatched the three best fighters on the team, they used their long range-weapons to their advantage. He couldn't hurt what he couldn't touch.

Jake shook the cobwebs and had a look around. He saw the tree he had snapped in half and moaned painfully. He would feel that one in the morning. Fortunately, his suit took most of the damage, so he could still get up. He saw Noah and Emma were doing fairly well against Jordan, so he looked around for Gia and Troy. He saw them lying in the dirt, struggling to get up. He made his way over and fell to his knees beside them.

"You know, avoiding being blasted works even better," he said and looked to Gia in particular, "You should try it sometime."

"Shut up, Holling," she reached into her shirt and pulled out the chip and Noah's charger. "I'm not the one destroying the rainforest."

"It's one tree," Jake rolled his eyes, "And that's not my fault."

"Jordan's distracted," Troy pointed out as he sat up. "He's only focused on Emma and Noah. He's not paying any attention to us. If we get the chip on him now…"

"Done," Gia started to get up but Jake grabbed her. Before she could do anything, Jake snatched the chip and the charger from her hands and took off running.

"I'm not letting you get hurt!" he called to Gia before jumping on Jordan's back. He wrapped his arm around the taller boy's neck and stuck the chip on his shoulder. Then, before Jordan could rip him off, Jake pressed the charger against the chip.

A powerful current ran up his arm, shocking his entire body as he let out a cry of pain and dropped to the ground. Jordan felt the same pain and fell to his knees before he landed face first in the dirt.


	110. A Shock

His vision was blurry when he first woke up, and all he saw was white. For a moment, Jake thought he was dead. He blinked a couple of times and spots came into view. He realized he was staring up at a ceiling. A faint, constant beeping sound finally reached his ears. Jake recognized it immediately. He jumped fearfully and tried to climb out of his hospital bed. He didn't want to be here. The hospital was the very last place he ever wanted to end up. He didn't care what had happened to him or how much he needed medical attention. He didn't care if he was dying. He did not want to be in the hospital.

"It's okay!" a voice told him as he was gently lowered back into bed. His vision cleared a little more, widening his tunnel vision, and he saw Gia leaning over him, making sure that he was comfortable as he rested in bed. She fixed the blankets around him. "You're going to be okay, you bastard."

Jake nodded his head as he noticed something strange. Gia was tucking him back into bed with only one hand. When he looked for the other one, he saw he was holding it. Gia noticed and pulled her hand away.

"I'll get the doctors," she said. Before Jake could protest, she left the room. Gia stepped out into the hall and breathed a sigh of relief. She walked down to the reception, let the nurses there know that Jake was finally awake, and then walked to the waiting room. She knew Jake would want some company, but she had to tell the others he was finally up.

Noah, as she expected, was pacing back and forth nervously. She put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a smile and a nod. He rushed off to be with Jake, knowing it was very likely his best friend was terrified.

"How is he?" Troy asked. Gia shrugged her shoulders.

"He knows where he is," she answered. "I think that's a good sign."

"For now," Troy breathed out a gentle sigh of relief and then looked over at Emma. She was curled up on one of the chairs, desperately waiting to hear some good news about Jordan. She wanted to sit with him and wait for him to wake up, like Gia had done for Jake, but his parents were already in the room and the doctors wouldn't allow anyone else. The wait was killing her.

"Emma…"

Suddenly, the doors opened. Jordan and his parents stepped out. Jordan looked a little shaken up and very lost, but he was walking out on his own. Emma figured his Ranger suit must have protected him from any real damage, just like it would have done for her and the other Rangers. However, from the fight in Noah's garage, he was wearing a splint on his arm, which Noah had broken with a shovel.

She jumped out of her chair and ran over to Jordan, throwing her arms around him. He caught her but then he pushed her away.

"Don't you go to my school?" he asked her. Emma looked up at him in horror.

"I'm Emma. Jordan…"

"Yeah, Emma, you're that environment girl, right?" Jordan felt a tug on his arm and saw his mother was eager to get home. "Well, thanks for coming but I'll be fine. Doctor said it wasn't too bad. I'll see you at school in a few days, I guess."

"No," Emma grabbed Jordan's arm to stop him from leaving. Gia hurried over, grabbed Emma, and gently pulled her away.

"Let it go," she whispered in her best friend's ear as Jordan walked away with his parents. Gia could feel Emma pulling. She knew the pink Ranger wanted to go after her boyfriend – or the boy she wanted to be her boyfriend – but it wasn't for the best. It was obvious Jordan didn't remember her.

"This isn't fair!" Emma suddenly screamed and turned around to yell at Gia. Jordan was gone and Noah was gone. She had no one else to yell at. "We stopped him! We undid or reprogramed him! Everything should be back to normal!"

"Shh," Gia pulled Emma back into her arms and hugged her tight, "He got hurt, Emma. It might take a while to…"

"NO! We broke the spell. Everything goes back to normal once we break the spell."

By now, other people in the waiting room were staring. Gia pulled Emma aside. Troy joined the girls.

"Jordan wasn't under a spell," he reminded Emma. "A monster didn't do this. He got hurt. He needs time to recover. He might remember… oof!"

Troy rubbed his side and glared at Gia. She shook her head.

"Just… for now, focus on the fact that he's okay," Gia reminded Emma. "He's alive. He'll be fine. He'll be back at school in a few days."

"What if he never remembers me?"

Gia shrugged her shoulders, "He hasn't forgotten you. He forgot what you had. Give him some space, okay. If it all works out, that's great. If it doesn't…"

"Gia…"

"Just focus on the upside. Jordan's going to be okay," Gia gave her best friend one more hug before leaving her with Troy. "Jordan's fine and I've got to check up on the idiot. He was the one who wasn't morphed. Are you going to be okay?"

Emma nodded her head and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She walked to her chair and hugged her knees to her chest. Gia sighed and turned to Troy.

"Just stay with her, okay. Don't say anything. Stay with her."

"Go check up on Jake," Troy nodded.

Gia left and made her way back to Jake's room. As she walked down the hall, she heard Noah's voice. She saw just a little ways away from Jake's door was Noah and Jake's parents. Before Gia could slip away and avoid Mrs. Holling, the two made eye-contact.

"You!" she pushed her way past her husband and Noah. "This is your fault."

"Mrs. Holling, I assure you…"

"My son's in the hospital because of you!"

"Mrs. Holling," Noah grabbed her arm, "This isn't Gia's fault…"

"No, of course not," Mrs. Holling rolled her eyes. "My brave boy jumped in front of a man with a taser for this…"

"A word," Mr. Holling grabbed his wife forcefully and pulled her away so they could talk. Gia rolled her eyes. She knew there would be no pleasing Jake's mother. It seemed Mrs. Holling would find a reason to blame Gia for everything.

"I told her you and Jake were attacked. Taser's the best explanation I could come up with," Noah said. "Sorry about Mrs. Holling."

"She hates me," Gia shrugged her shoulders. She had decided not to let Mrs. Holling's words bother her. Though they did hurt, Gia was sure a lot of people who knew her story – or thought they did –had passed a negative judgement on her. "How's Jake?"

"Asking for you," Noah said. "He's asking if you're mad at him."

"So he remembers what happened?"

"Yeah. Vaguely, but yeah. Doctors want to keep him for a few days to make sure everything's okay with his heart…"

"Well, you don't need to be a doctor to know it's in the right place," Gia muttered.

"Jake's kind of freaking out," Noah said. "He's been to the emergency room a few times since the big accident, but he's never stayed in the hospital. He's a little paranoid something's going to happen to him. I tried to tell him the doctors know what they're doing, but he won't listen."

"I can talk to him," Gia said.

"I was hoping you would say that," Noah smiled. "Also, I talked to Mr. Holling about it, and we both agreed it's best if you stay with him overnight."

"Me?"

"You're the first person Jake's known who stayed in the hospital for more than a day and survived. It might calm him down if you're there with him."

"You really think it will help?"

"Yeah," Noah nodded. "Just talk to him, keep his mind on something other than where he is. He'll settle down."

"Any other tricks?"

"Yeah, when all else fails, talk about soccer. It works every time."

Gia nodded and took in a deep breath, "Alright, but you've got to do something for me."

"What?"

"Make sure Emma gets home. I don't care how you do it. Drag her kicking and screaming if you have to, just get her home to my parents. They'll take care of her."

"Is everything okay?"

"She and Jordan broke up. He doesn't remember dating."

"Oh…" Noah looked down at his feet, "I guess I reprogramed a little too much…"

"It could just take time. He's been shocked twice now," Gia said. "Look, don't blame yourself. It's like you said, he shouldn't have touched your stuff…"

"Still…" Noah sighed. He looked up at Gia, "I'll get her home. Any tricks?"

"Yeah. Don't make a promise you can't keep."

Noah nodded and set off to find Emma, determined to bring her home on Gia's orders. Making sure she was okay and well looked after was the least he could do. Gia took in a deep breath and opened the door to Jake's room. She caught him trying to sneak out the window.

"Get out of there," she rolled her eyes, "You're on the third floor."

"I don't want to stay here," Jake shook his head as Gia walked him back to bed, "I can't stay here. You know what happens…"

"I made it through, remember?" Gia told him. She sat him down on the bed and smiled, "I nearly died of boredom, but this place fixed me up. It'll do the same for you."

"No… what… what if something goes wrong? I'm staying here because something might go wrong."

"Nothing will," Gia said. A doctor walked in, having been alerted that Jake was either dead, or he had pulled off all the wires monitoring his vitals. He had already been told of Jake's fear.

"Keep these on," he said as he attached them. "If anything goes wrong, we'll know immediately and we'll be able to help. This is your best chance."

Gia groaned and hit her hand to her forehead as the doctor said that, "Bad choice of words."

"If I'm dying, just tell me," Jake looked up, "I can take it… on second thought, just put me out of my misery."

He held out his arm as if expecting a needle. The doctor shook his head and walked off. Gia took his hand.

"You're being ridiculous."

"Gia, this is where people die! You come to the hospital, they tell you you're going to be okay, and then you die…"

"Jake, that's a complication. The doctors are trying to avoid that," she pointed to the machine, "That's what this is for. Everyone in this building wants and expects you to live, and they're doing what they can so that happens."

"What if I'm a complication?"

"You're not," Gia shook her head and sat down beside Jake. She continued to hold his hand, "You're not complicated at all. As soon as the doctors see that, they'll let you go. I promise."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Gia looked at Jake with a warm smile, "You're okay. Doctors just like to be careful. At least, the good ones do. So if this doctor is trying to be careful then…"

"He's a good doctor?"

"Yeah, and if he's a good doctor…?"

"He knows what he's doing, and I'll be okay," Jake smiled back. "Okay… well, when you put it like that… okay."

"Are you calm now?"

Jake nodded his head, "Yeah. Thanks."

"Good, now I can call you an idiot to your face," Gia crossed her arms over her chest. "Holling, I told you…"

"No, I told you," Jake smirked as he looked at Gia, "I'm never letting you get hurt."

"It did hurt…" Gia muttered. Jake turned to her.

"What hurt?"

Gia looked at Jake and then saw the remote for the TV sitting beside his pillow. She grabbed it.

"I think there's a soccer game on."

"Oh soccer! Think the hospital gets the sports channels?"

"Let's find out," Gia said breathed out a sigh of relief. Noah was right, soccer did work.


	111. Complicated Love

Emma was back home and nestled into the couch. The boys had taken her home, insisting it was best for her. They told the Morans about Jordan's accident, lying about what had really happened because they didn't think the Morans knew about them being Rangers. The end result was the same. Jordan couldn't remember Emma.

"It hurts now," Mr. Moran said, "but at least he's safe."

He didn't want to ask about the real story because he knew what mattered. Emma was safe and Gia was safe. Fortunately, no harm had come to them. As long as that was the truth in both versions, he didn't care what else he knew.

"He's just a boy," Mr. Moran continued, "If he does remember once he's better, that's great, but if he doesn't, he's just a boy."

"A boy she loved," Mrs. Moran walked in with the cookies she and Emma had baked earlier that day. Mr. Moran looked to his wife, and then to Emma.

"Is that true?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders, "I guess so."

"You let it slip to me earlier," Mrs. Moran said, "And a mother knows. That's why this is hurting so much. You love him?"

Emma nodded her head, "We haven't said it yet. I think he was about to before all this. He wanted to talk about something and he seemed kind of nervous so…" Emma sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I never should have let him find out. I should have just denied everything. He never would have come to help Noah and he would be okay."

"He is okay," Mr. Moran reminded her. "He is going to be okay. He just…"

"Might not remember," Mrs. Moran continued, "That doesn't mean all is lost. Even if he doesn't remember what you had, it was still there."

"He looked at me like I was a stranger," Emma shook her head and rolled her eyes, "It's gone."

She hugged her knees to her chest and sighed. Mr. Moran wrapped his arms around her. He held her close.

"It's not gone. What you had will never disappear. If it was meant to work out, then it will, and if not…"

"This is a shitty way to break up," Emma grumbled. "Why can't it ever just be normal? Why do mom and dad have to leave before I'm home? Why couldn't Jordan just end things like a regular break-up?"

"These aren't related, sweetheart…"

"But that's always how things go! No one says goodbye, they just take off."

"Emma…"

"And being a Ranger, that's what's causing off of this! I couldn't go with mom and dad because I had to protect the world here! And if I was never a Ranger…"

"It's okay," Mrs. Moran held the pink Ranger's hand. "Jordan's not gone, sweetheart, he's just… he's…"

"Gone," Emma insisted. Mr. Moran shook his head.

"What you have with him will never disappear."

Emma rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe it. She turned away from the Morans, wanting to be alone. Mrs. Moran kissed her cheek as she got up.

"I'm sure being a Ranger is confusing, but now that the responsibility and the honour are yours, you can't throw it away."

"It could be the thing that kills me," Emma reminded them. "Gia and I could both go at once, if we're really lucky."

"Don't talk like that," Mr. Moran shook his head. Emma rolled her eyes again, and then remembered something important. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a smaller version of her morpher. It had been what Jordan used to get in contact with the Rangers. As far as the others knew, he had just taken her morpher. Emma had taken it off him after he went down and before the doctors took him away. She wanted to give it back to him once he woke up so that at the very least he could protect himself if something were to happen, but that didn't seem like a possibility anymore. She put the morpher in Mr. Moran's hands.

"Jordan made it when his brain was supercharged. He can communicate with us and it even let him morph. Keep it near in case something happens. You'll be able to listen to us and worst come to worst, you might even be able to morph and protect yourself. Obviously I don't want you using it unless it's a real emergency."

Mr. Moran nodded his head, and gave the little morpher to his wife. She would put it somewhere safe. He smiled at Emma, "It'll put our mind at ease during the longer battles."

-Megaforce-

Gia sat by Jake's bedside as he slept. Watching a soccer game on TV had taken his mind off everything and put him at ease enough to pass out. Gia hoped he would be out for the rest of her night. From her own experiences, it was the night time that was the scariest.

She still couldn't explain what was going on. Since he had stood up for her to Mick and Alex on the soccer field, she knew she liked him. He was the first boy to treat her with respect, even when she didn't think she deserved it. He made it obvious he cared for her and he saw her as a person – not a prize to be won. He wasn't like the other boys. He was special.

But lately, she had stronger feelings for him. After getting home the other night, and having him clean out her burns, she noticed it. She had taken off her shirt, leaving herself in only her bra as he worked on patching up the burn on her chest. Naturally, she was a little frightful with him being so close while she was so exposed, but he had never hurt her before, and that streak hadn't broken. He tended to her, kept his eyes focused on his work and never touched her or made her feel uncomfortable. The whole experience had made her uncomfortable, but not him.

Being so exposed, and him not hurting her was strange. The only other boys who had seen her with her shirt off were Cliff, Alex, and Mick. No one had ever gone as far as Jake without hurting her in some way. In fact, no one had ever gone as far as Jake and not gone further to hurt her.

And it scared her. It scared her that he had gotten so close. It scared her that he hadn't hurt her, or tried to hurt her. It scared her that he was honest, and sweet, and kind, and everything she wished Cliff had been. He was exactly the kind of guy she wanted to be with. He was right there, and he cared for her, and he wanted her and she…

She didn't know what she had done to deserve him. She had pushed him away, she had called him names. She never tried to hurt him. She never tried to hurt anyone, but she knew she could be mean. She had rejected him so many times between grade nine and now, but he was still here.

Why was he still here? Why did he still want her? Why did he think she deserved him? He was a good guy, maybe a bit of a doofus sometimes, but he was probably the sweetest and nicest and most honest and trustworthy guy Gia had met. If other girls could see that, they would all want him, and they would probably all be more deserving of him than her. They wouldn't be as complicated or broken or even scared of him as she was. He deserved better.

"We can switch places," his voice pulled her from her thoughts and she looked over, seeing he was awake. "I can sleep in the chair, and you can take the bed."

"You need rest," she shook her head. "Go back to sleep. Nothing's going to happen."

"Yeah, I know," Jake smiled. He rolled away and turned his back to Gia, "I'll sleep this way, and that leaves half the bed for you if you want. No straying hands, I promise."

"The chair's fine. I'm not tired yet. Goodnight, Jake."

"Goodnight, Gia."


	112. A New Classroom

Once he was sure that both Jake and Jordan would be okay and they were being looked after, Troy went home. It had been a long day. Fighting one of his good friends had been one of the hardest things he had ever had to do, but fortunately, Jordan would recover. Troy wasn't sure exactly how much he remembered of his experience, but he had no recollection of Emma and their relationship, so he could assume that there was no memory of the incident.

Taking it a step further, Troy knew that as long as Jordan had no memory of his time with Emma, he had no memory of the Rangers and their identity. He had only learned after dating Emma for some time. While he wanted Emma to be happy, and knew this separation between her and Jordan was a real upset for her, a part of him wished Jordan couldn't regain his memories. It was safest for him if he was ignorant about the Rangers identities, just like everyone else.

And it was best for Emma. Troy had never said anything, but since Jordan found out the truth, Emma had been distracted in training. She always brought Jordan along so that he could protect himself if needed, and there was always more flirting than actual training. As leader, Troy wanted a strong team not because he wanted to have the best team of Rangers the planet's ever seen. In fact, with the last team being a group of trained Samurai from birth, he knew him and his friends were a far cry from being the best or the strongest team. But he wanted his teammates safe. He wanted to know that without his lead, they could take care of themselves. He was the best in terms of martial arts. He felt comfortable on the battle field, as he had trained most of his life under various sensei to improve his skills. He wasn't perfect, but he was closer than the others.

Jake and Gia weren't too far behind him, and had proven they could hold their own. Jake's style was a little clumsy and uncoordinated, but he had strength and speed from his years of player soccer, and his ability to think quickly under pressure was a real advantage. Gia, meanwhile, was a quick study. Troy had noticed she had no problem with any lessons he taught her. It was as though all she had to do was see something, and she could mimic it perfectly.

Noah wasn't the strongest fighter. In fact, he was probably the worst on the team, but his smarts more than made up for it. He could come up with plans, fix their weapons, and if his device for Robo-Knight had gone as planned, he would have even improved on the Ranger technology – something Gosei or even Tensou hadn't yet done. He was a real genius, and Troy wished he had half the intelligence Noah, so it was a good thing Noah was on his team. The Rangers wouldn't be able to function without a brain.

Emma was also important, but she wasn't a brain and she wasn't the muscle. She was, as Gia once said, the heart. It was a good position, and just like the brain, the team needed someone to keep them together and to keep them grounded and focused on their missions, but it also made her vulnerable. On the battlefield she always needed a partner to fight by her side so the monsters wouldn't overwhelm her, and unlike Noah, she couldn't come up with medicines or formulas or develop weapon technology to improve the Ranger arsenal. So Troy needed Emma to learn to protect herself and her teammates. Jordan had distracted her from that.

If he couldn't please anyone, he wanted to please as many people as possible. Emma could try to court Jordan once again, without reminding him of her identity, but if Jordan remembered, there was no erasing all of that. Maybe this time it was best if there was no full recovery.

"You're home late," he heard his mother say, and saw she had been waiting for him. He walked into the living room and sighed.

"Sorry. A friend needed me."

"That Gia girl?"

"Uh, yeah," Troy nodded his head. He would use any excuse he could to keep his parents, his mother especially, in the dark. He didn't want them getting in any trouble, and he couldn't dare imagine what would happen if Vrak or any of the mutants and monsters found out about them, especially with his mother pregnant.

"Why don't you have all your new friends over?" Mrs. Borrows offered with a smile to her son. "Your father and I plan on staying here a while – at least until after you graduate. By then, you'll have a choice of where you want to live. It might be good to keep some friends around. Plant some roots."

"I don't know, mom…"

"It's not easy," his mother got up and put her hands on his shoulders. "I'm sorry we've had to move you around so much. It's hard getting used to the idea of staying in one place long enough to make connections…"

"I do have connections," Troy said. "I think I'll be friends with these guys for a while."

"Have them over," his mother insisted. "You can order pizza and watch movies or play games. Your father and I can even let you have the house to yourself for the night."

"I'll think about it," Troy said. His mother smiled, gave him a kiss on the cheek and then headed upstairs to be. Troy groaned at first at the thought of having everyone over for a night, but as he climbed up the stairs he realized it wasn't a bad idea. Really, the only time the whole team got together at once was for Ranger business. It would be nice to have a night where they could just be friends without having to save the world. At the very least, it would strengthen the bond between the team and bring them closer. In turn, it would help with their Ranger responsibilities. If they all felt comfortable with each other, and if they trusted each other, then they would be one step closer to being an unstoppable force against the Warstar.

-Megaforce-

The following morning, most of the Rangers were at school. Because of the battle, and because the doctors wanted to be careful with Jake's heart, believing he had been shocked, he would be missing a couple of days. His parents were with him to keep him calm during his stay so Gia could go to school. She figured if she skipped another day, Mrs. Chesterfield would lose her head.

Unfortunately, she and the others arrived at school to find just that. Mrs. Chesterfield was waiting for them in the front hallway, tapping her foot impatiently. She had seen them running out at lunch the day before, and they hadn't come back for their final period. They had been skipping so many classes she was genuinely starting to worry there was a problem. Without saying a word she pointed the office. The four followed her. Mick and Alex were still using her office as their in-school suspension classroom, so Mrs. Chesterfield walked them to the principal's office. There were five chairs for them to sit.

"Mr. Holling…"

"At home sick," Gia said and then gave Mrs. Chesterfield the note his father had written up. "He'll be out for a few days."

"I guess the message will be passed along, then?"

"What message?" Troy asked. Mrs. Chesterfield pulled out a stack of books from a bag on the floor.

"In school homeschooling."

"That makes no sense," Gia pointed out instantly. "The fact that we're in school defeats the purpose of homeschooling."

"Since the five of you all insist on skipping classes, and because your averages have all dropped significantly in the past few months, I've taken it upon myself to ensure you are all getting the attention and the education you deserve."

"I liked your babysitting plan better," Gia rolled her eyes. "At least that one ended up not being so… stupid."

"Miss Moran…"

"Check your records," Gia shook her head, "Sure, I've missed a lot of class, but my grades haven't dropped. Not by a single point."

"Yes, but I believe you can do so much better…"

"Than a ninety-eight average?" Emma muttered. She looked to Ms. Chesterfield, "Sorry, but I agree with Gia. We don't need this."

Troy nodded his head, "We're doing our very best in all our classes. I crammed hard for those quizzes, and I think I did really well."

"Me too," Noah pointed out. "I mean, my parents were a little concerned with the sudden drop, but…"

"Those monster attacks have us all a little on edge," Troy pointed out and figured it was safe to bring it up. "I'm sure there are a lot of other students who have been under a little extra stress lately with monsters attacking all the time. Why don't they get one on one?"

"Because, Mr. Borrows," Ms. Chesterfield stated, "I've not seen as drastic a change of behaviour in those students as I have in the five of you. Possibly with the exception of Mr. Hollings, none of you were known to skip out on classes, or even miss entire days. Mr. Carver, you were falling asleep all day in class yesterday before taking off for God-knows where."

"Yeah, but…"

"I think it's in your best interest you get a little extra attention," the first bell rang and Ms. Chesterfield opened the biology textbook, "We'll start from the beginning so I know what level each of you is on."

"This is stupid," Gia shook her head, stood up, and walked out. She slammed the door as she left. Ms. Chesterfield sighed, handed out a couple of worksheets to Troy, Emma, and Noah, and then followed Gia into the hall. Gia was at her locker, getting ready for class with Mr. Burley.

"Miss Moran…"

"Let it go," Gia growled but never turned to look at Ms. Chesterfield. "You're always on my case."

"I care about you. I want to see you succeed."

"I am succeeding," Gia stuffed her books in her bags. "Noah and I have the two highest averages in this school. Even with his falling grades, he's still going to go places. You've got Emma leading that green program, and Jake's the star of Harwood's soccer team. Maybe we're all a little too busy to be focused on homework but…"

"And what is keeping you busy?" Ms. Chesterfield asked. "Miss Moran, what's so important you have to miss entire days of school. Your attendance is so poor in some of your classes, I could fail you. I could deny each of you a credit in at least one class for lacking the hours required."

"So then why don't you?"

"Because that's not teaching," Ms. Chesterfield looked at Gia. "By the time you leave this school, Miss Moran, I want to know I've made a difference. I want to know you're on the right track so you can do whatever makes you happy."

"Keeping me locked up in an office for the day won't make me happy."

"Then tell me what will."

"If everyone just left me alone. Me and the others, we don't need this special attention. In fact, monitoring us all day could be dangerous."

"Miss. Moran…"

"I'm serious."

The second bell rang. Gia started off to class, but Ms. Chesterfield grabbed her arm.

"What if the five of us have class outside? Just for today, we'll see how this works. If you don't like it, I'll consider something else."

"Fine," Gia muttered and followed Ms. Chesterfield back to the office.


	113. Moving Away

Though she hadn't been a fan at first, frustrated that she would have eyes on her constantly while in school, Gia had to admit growing to like the more personalized classroom that Ms. Chesterfield had offered. Though it would prove to be difficult to get away if the Rangers were called into battle in the middle of the day, from an educational standpoint, this idea was truly genius.

The group was smaller. In fact, with only five students – four while Jake recovered from the last battle – Ms. Chesterfield could make the lessons a lot more personal, and she could reach out to Gia, Emma, Troy, and Noah individually. She could even adapt the lessons to suit their needs. Noah would get more advance and technical problems to work on in the science lessons, and when earth sciences came up, Emma would generally take the lead even over Ms. Chesterfield. She could basically teach the book from cover to cover based solely on her own discoveries from biking out in the woods and researching various plants and animals and their habitats at home. Troy excelled in gym classes, and Gia and Noah were both great in math.

In essence, where one was weak, the others were strong, and with Ms. Chesterfield's guidance, they got more work done, in less time, and had more fun doing it. As long as the aliens decided not to invade Earth during school hours, Gia was content letting Chesterfield's plan work out for the rest of the year, and possible even once she was in the twelfth grade.

"Changed your mind, Miss Moran?" Ms. Chesterfield asked at the end of the day as Gia was packing up her bags. Troy had already gone home, saying he had to help his mother with a few chores around the house. Now that she was pregnant, she needed a little help with a few household tasks. Noah was gone as well, wanting to visit and check up on Jake in the hospital. He knew his best friend hated anything to do with the hospital, and so wanted to make sure he could support him as much as possible.

Emma had gone to Jordan's house. He didn't remember her as his girlfriend, but he did remember her. She thought maybe today his memory would have come back to him a little more.

Gia shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, I guess."

"Think you might actually spend more time in class now?"

"We'll see," Gia didn't want to make any promises she couldn't keep. Ms. Chesterfield nodded her head.

"I'm on your side, you know. I don't hate you or want to make your life miserable."

"It feels like it sometimes," Gia looked up, "Look, Ms. Chesterfield, the thing with Cliff… what happened to me… I don't want it to define me. Thanks to my friends and Serena, I'm at that point where… I want to move on from it. I'm not that person, and I don't want to be that person anymore."

"You want to find yourself?"

"Yeah," Gia shrugged her shoulder. "It's a part of me now and… I get that I can't just ignore it, but when you're following me around school…"

"I don't do that because of Cliff," Ms. Chesterfield shook her head. She sat on her desk and smiled at Gia, "I do that because I see you're still in trouble. You still need help."

"I'm not still in trouble," Gia rolled her eyes. Ms. Chesterfield didn't look convinced.

"You look tired," she pointed out. "You're covered in bruises, you're always on edge."

"It's like Troy said," Gia answered, "Those monsters…"

"You're preoccupied," Ms. Chesterfield continued. "You're running away from school, from home…"

"You know about that?"

"Your parents called when you didn't come home. There's something troubling about you and I don't like it when my students are at risk."

"At risk?"

"I care about you, Gia," Ms. Chesterfield smiled. "You're a good girl. You're a very smart girl. You deserve the best, and I just… I can't help but worry about you."

Gia looked down at her bag and shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know why, but Ms. Chesterfield's words had touched her.

"I've got to go," she had to leave the office and the school before other students saw her tearing up. "Jake hates hospitals and it's kind of my fault he's there so…"

"I'll see you tomorrow," Mrs. Chesterfield nodded and let Gia go.

-Megaforce-

Noah walked into Jake's hospital room, and he saw his best friend rolling a soccer ball back and forth on the bed between his hands. It was obvious the black Ranger was bored and more than ready to leave and get moving again. Jake had never been one to sit still for a long time. Noah could only imagine how frustrating it was to be stuck in bed in a place that scared him.

He sat down beside the bed and offered his best friend a smile, "You missed a pretty good day."

"Tell me about it," Jake rolled his eyes and groaned. "Man, I never thought I'd actually want to go to school."

"How are you feeling?"

"Perfectly fine," Jake grumbled. He crossed his arms over his chest, "The doctors still won't let me leave until tonight. My heart's fine, my brain is fine…"

"They're just being careful," Noah assured him. "You wouldn't want to have to come back."

Jake's eyes widened and he shook his head. Then he pointed to Noah's bag, "What are you working on?"

"Still the chip," Noah pulled out his laptop and opened it, showing his best friend the work he had been doing on the chip. Now that it was away from Jordan and back in safe hands, Noah could figure out what exactly went wrong and how he could improve it so that when he programmed it on Robo-Knight, it would be safe for everyone involved.

"You're still working on that?"

"I don't want all this to be for nothing," Noah said. "Jordan doesn't remember Emma. I feel like if I just throw this all away and try something else… she and Jordan will have suffered for no reason. At least if we get a teammate out of all this, and the Earth is safer…"

"Or, you keep fiddling with that thing and we're forced to bring another Ranger back from the dark side," Jake shook his head, "Look, we can work on Robo-Knight the old fashion way. It's just a matter of showing him humans are worth protecting."

"Good luck with that. If you think Gia's stubborn, just wait until you try and get a robot to change, or even like you."

"We can do it," Jake said, "You'll find another way to help. A less dangerous way."

"Maybe I should just stop with these experiments."

"No way," Jake shook his head. He put his hand on Noah's shoulder, "You come up with some pretty cool stuff. Remember my Snake Axe? It's so much lighter now, so it's easier to use. Before, it was hard to lift, never mind swing."

"You didn't seem to be struggling."

"Yeah, when I was full of energy. Just imagine how heavy that would be after an ass-kicking. And if I can't lift my own weapon and protect myself, or even others, we're screwed."

"Yeah… I guess…."

"Besides, if you're not blowing up garages or making crazy new gadgets, what else are you doing to do? Start dating? That's probably the worst thing for you to do," Jake chuckled and teased. Noah groaned and rolled his eyes.

"I didn't mean to hurt her."

"Still, do what you love. What would you rather be stuck doing for the rest of your life? Messing around with dangerous technology and coming up with something creative that maybe could help people or advance science? Or sit around in a boring cubicle all day, wasting your life and your potential repairing a busted photocopier?"

"I guess the failed experiments are still pretty fun," Noah shrugged his shoulder, "You know, when they aren't sending my friends to the hospital."

"Again," Jake chuckled. "So, no more Robo-Chip, but keep messing around with gadgets and gizmos and… all that. It's pretty cool."

"Thanks, Jake."

"No problem. Now seriously, dude, get me out of here," Jake gripped the blankets on his bed, "I'm really starting to get paranoid everyone's hiding something from me. I really, really don't want to die."

"I'll try and talk to someone," Noah promised as he got up to find Jake's parents.

-Megaforce-

Emma walked to Jordan's house and found him sitting on his front porch with a notebook in his hands. He looked like he was drawing something, though it seemed a little hard to do with one broken arm. However, she assumed a day at home to rest left him with nothing else to do, and he did enjoy the challenge. She walked up his driveway and knocked on a supporting beam. Jordan looked up.

"Emma?"

"How are you feeling?"

He shrugged his shoulders and gestured to the cast, "I've had better days."

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Not really. Mom and dad said I got into a fight."

"Sorta," Emma nodded. She sat down beside him and looked at his drawing. It was just a picture of a cat.

"I promised my sister I'd do something for her bedroom. She loves cats," Jordan said. Emma nodded her head and sighed. Jordan turned to her, "Is everything okay?"

"You really don't remember much, do you?"

"The doctors said there was some brain damage. We'll have to wait and see what happens. I haven't forgotten too much, though, and apparently the alternative was death, so I'm feeling pretty good."

He gave Emma a little smile, "You know, it was a little weird, but when I was leaving the hospital, it was nice to see someone was there waiting for me. You know, someone other than my parents. I don't think many people at school really like me. Unless that's changed. Why… why were you at the hospital?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders, "I was around and saw what happened. I called 911 for you."

"Do you remember what I was doing at the park?"

"You don't want to know," Emma sighed. "It's best you don't remember that part."

"I was probably drawing," he gestured to his notebook. "My theory is I was drawing and some punks decided to make fun of me for it."

"No, that's not what happened," Emma shook her head.

"What was I doing?"

"Like I said, it's best you don't remember," Emma turned and looked at Jordan, "So… what is the last thing you do remember?"

"Just, going to school, doing homework. Drawing, practicing, the usual teenage stuff."

"What about the red Ranger?"

"You mean those new Power Rangers?" Jordan asked and then shook his head, "They're probably old news by now."

"Do you remember there was a rumour going around that you were the red Ranger?"

"There was?"

"One you started?"

"I did?"

"You don't remember any of that? Or after that? The dance? The kiss?"

"Did we date?"

"Kind of," Emma nodded her head. Jordan looked to her, took in a deep breath and then he set his notebook down. He looked out at the street.

"I don't remember that."

"You made that clear at the hospital."

"Are you sure we dated? I mean you're like… and I'm…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I kind of have a huge crush on you," Jordan told her. "It's one of the reasons I don't really get along with the guys."

"Because of me?"

"They all like your friend Gia. I'm mean, she's not bad to look at but she's just… not my type. I like you. They think I'm crazy. I never thought I'd have a chance with you, though."

"You do. And… Jordan, I know this might be weird but, even if you don't remember… I like you and… well, if you have a big crush on me then I guess you like me so maybe… maybe we can…"

"No," Jordan shook his head. "I… I'm sorry, Emma but I don't think it would be right."

"Why?"

"Well… it wouldn't be fair," Jordan shrugged his shoulders. "You… you know me, I guess but you're still just… a girl I go to school with. I don't remember anything about us and you do. We're at two different stages in our relationship and it's just… do you really want that?"

"I want you," Emma nodded her head. Tears were coming to her eyes but she tried to push them back. "Jordan, we can make this work. I can help you remember… and then…"

"It could be a while," Jordan shrugged his shoulders, "And life moves on. No one's going to stop and wait until I can catch up."

"I can…"

"That's not fair," Jordan shook his head. "Besides, I'm moving."

Emma's head shot up and she shook it back and forth, "What? No… no way…"

"There's a nice house in northern California. If my parents sell this one now, we can just afford it. With all the monsters attacking, and now this, they think it's best if we got away. My memory's gone, so…"

"So you have to stay," Emma shook her head, "Nothing upstate is going to remind you of what you've forgotten…"

"Yeah, but I can start fresh. My whole family can. I'm only missing a couple of months, right? I remember the start of the semester pretty well."

"Yeah, but…"

"My parents made up their mind. It's safest. You should probably talk to your parents too. You wouldn't want to get caught up in one of those nasty monster fights, would you?"

"Jordan, you can't…"

"Sorry," Jordan picked up his notebook, "Maybe it's for the best."

"Please rethink this, Jordan…"

"Emma, there's nothing I can do. My parents put in an offer on that house and we're going to show our house any day now."

"Who's going to want to buy a house in Harwood? You're leaving because of the monsters. No one's crazy enough…"

"People like monster hunting. They're buying houses. Ranger fans are buying houses hoping for a chance to see them in action. I think they're crazy, but hey, they can put their own lives in danger…"

"Jordan…"

"I've got to go," Jordan shook his head and started to walk inside. "Maybe it's best for both of us if we just said goodbye now. Thanks for stopping by, Emma, and I'm really sorry about this. I wish things were different."

"They could be," Emma got up to go after Jordan but he closed the door on her. She banged on it a couple of times before storming off down the driveway. She grabbed her bike and hopped on it, hoping to ride it home, but the tears in her eyes clouded her vision. She didn't see the tree branch that had fallen on the sidewalk. It got caught in her wheel and stopped the bike. Emma flew forward to the street and her bike fell over. She let out a groan as she sat up. She had scraped her hands when she put them out in front of her to stop her fall, causing them to bleed. She had also scraped her knees when they, the left one especially, smashed into the concrete road. She picked herself up, and then grabbed her bike and kicked it over. It fell in the middle of the road, just as a car was coming past. The driver stopped and honked his horn loudly. Then he stepped out.

"Are you crazy?" he shouted at Emma. He started to approach her, but someone grabbed his arm.

"Leave her alone."

"Or what?" the driver turned to Gia. He was a bigger man and she was just a girl. Her fake leather jacket, black pants, and boots did nothing to scare him. Then he caught the look she was giving him.

"Leave her alone," Gia repeated. The man scoffed, mumbled something under his breath, got back in his car and sped off. Gia picked up Emma's bike and walked it back to the side of the road. Then she took a seat on the curb beside Emma.

"You never fall off your bike," she saw Emma's bloodied hands and knees, "That looks bad. Let's go home, get you cleaned up, and…"

"Jordan's moving," Emma whispered. She took off her helmet and smashed it into the street, cracking the shell. The she grabbed her bag off her back and opened it. She took out her books and threw them away. She even tore up a couple of pages and threw the pieces aside, missing the nearest recycling container by several meters. Then she pulled out her camera. She was about to throw it when Gia grabbed her wrist.

"Emma, what's wrong?"

"He's moving!" Emma shouted. She switched her camera to her other hand and tossed it into the street. "He's going upstate. Nothing's going to trigger his memories there. He'll never remember, so that's it! We're done."

"Emma…"

"It's done!" Emma got to her feet and stormed off. Gia quickly gathered the books, as much of the scrap paper as she could, and the pieces of the now broken camera. She stuffed then all in Emma's bag, put it over her shoulder and got on her bike. She caught up to Emma and cut her off.

"Where are you going?"

"Leave me alone," Emma tried to push her way past. Gia shook her head.

"Yeah, no. I did this one, remember? You weren't very happy with me. Let me walk you home. I'll leave you alone there."

Emma sniffed and shook her head, but Gia grabbed her arm so she had no choice but to walk back home.


	114. For A Best Friend

Emma's heart had never felt so heavy. When Gia got her home, she went straight to her room and locked herself in. When Gia and Mrs. Moran tried to talk to her, she didn't say a word. Because they couldn't get into the room, and because she was so silent as she sobbed into her pillow, she was sure they were worried for her.

Emma didn't think this was fair. First her parents had to leave, then Jordan. She knew that if he was in his right mind he would refuse to leave her – or at the very least, the two would come up with something so they weren't apart. It would be a rough battle, but if Jordan were still with her, they would have figured things out.

However, he had ended things with her. It wasn't the time for him to jump into a relationship, and he felt it best if he got a fresh start somewhere else. Though he said his lack of memories wasn't a huge frustration, she could tell the gap bothered him slightly when they spoke. Naturally it would. He had lost a few months of his life. However, a few months didn't seem like such a long time when he couldn't remember anything happening. He had no idea just how important those months had been. All the things he had seen and their relationship were gone. He didn't want to be a part of that anymore. Logically, she couldn't blame him, but she couldn't think logically. All she could think of was what she wanted, and she wanted him to take her back, to hold her in his arms, and to be the Jordan she knew and loved. She wanted him back. She needed him to come back.

"Let me in, please!" Mrs. Moran had stopped knocking on the door, but Gia was still there. She knocked and called out every couple of minutes, letting Emma know she was still around and eager to get in and comfort her. "I know it sucks but we can talk about this. You'll feel better."

Emma didn't want to feel better. She didn't think she could feel better. She wanted to soak in her misery and let her broken heart take over. Nothing was good anymore. Nothing and no one meant anything to her. She wanted it all to go away.

"Boys come and go. Everyone goes through this," Gia called. "It's a broken heart, and it sucks, and it feels impossible but you'll get over it and him and… Emma let me in! We can talk! We should talk!"

Gia was now pounding on the door. Emma looked to the clock. It had been an hour since she had made a sound loud enough for anyone to hear on the other side. Suddenly, there was a knock louder than any Gia had made before.

"Emma, open up," it was Mr. Moran – home from work. Emma shook her head. She knew he couldn't see it. She rolled over and ignored them all.

"I'll break the door down, Emma," Mr. Moran warned her. "Open this door or I will…"

"Dad, you can't be aggressive. She's hurting. She doesn't need someone yelling at her."

"You haven't heard a sound for an hour. What if she's not even there?" Mr. Moran asked. "I know it's tough, but she's not staying locked in her room like this."

"Let me handle this. Please, dad, I'll get her out."

Emma heard silence and lifted her head to look to the door. Then she heard a gentle knock.

"Just come to the door, Emma. Please, we can talk about this."

"No," Emma called so Gia and her parents wouldn't think she had taken off.

"Emma…"

"Leave me alone!"

"No," Gia called back. "You need someone…"

"Yeah, get me Jordan."

"He's not coming back. Emma…"

"Leave me alone!" Emma grabbed her morpher and threw it at the door. She heard a little scream after the morpher hit and assumed it had startled Gia. She waited for her best friend to yell, but no sound came. After five minutes of silence, Emma got out of bed and walked to the door. She unlocked it and opened it just a crack. No one was in the hallway, but there was a note.

_I've got your bag, your camera, your books, helmet, and bike with me. If you want any of them back, ever, find me at Ernie's in two hours. I'm buying._

_Love, Gia._

Emma rolled her eyes. She could buy another bag, her camera was broken from when she smashed it on the street, she didn't care for her books, her helmet was cracked and so it was useless. Her bike was the only thing she did want back, but she didn't care for it anymore. Not when she was missing Jordan.

She ripped up the note, walked back into her bedroom, locked the door and sobbed into her pillow.

-Megaforce-

"Do you think you can save it?" Gia laid down the pieces of Emma's broken camera on the table for Noah to look at. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm not sure."

"You created a chip that erased her boyfriend's memory," Gia said, "Don't tell me you can't fix a stupid little camera."

"In under two hours?"

As Ernie came over with milkshakes, Gia held her hand up.

"Hold up, Noah might not want his shake anymore."

"I…" Noah groaned, looked down at the pieces again and sighed, "Alright, I'll do my best. I can't guarantee it'll be good as new."

"Will it be able to take pictures or not?"

"Yes."

"Then away you go," Gia said. She let Ernie set the milkshakes down. Noah pulled out his bag, got his tools and started to work. Gia checked the time on her phone.

"Mind keeping the table? I've got two hours to run around town and find a helmet identical to this one."

"Why can't you just buy her a new camera and helmet? Why do you have to fix and replace them?"

"Because I know how much this stuff means to her," Gia said.

"If she even cares anymore," Noah sighed. He looked up, "If you do get her to listen, can you tell her I'm really, really sorry?"

"Yeah, sure," Gia nodded, "But only if you get that camera fixed before she gets here."

"Who's to say she's coming?"

"She better. She's got to."

Noah sighed, and then he pulled out his laptop, "You can save some time by looking up what stores have her helmet and if there are any available," he pointed the laptop at Gia, "Do a search. It'll be easiest if you know the type and brand."

"And if they have pink," Gia said. Noah looked up at her. She shrugged, "You'd be offended if I bought you a yellow laptop thingy, wouldn't you?"

"This colour thing is stupid."

"But you can't control it," Gia smirked. She typed in the helmet's information into the search engine, glad she had a strong enough memory to remember what had been written on the box when Emma first received the helmet. She groaned when she saw there were no stores in town that sold identical ones.

"How far is Blue Bay Harbour?" she asked Noah. He shrugged.

"Twenty minutes. Why?"

"Storm Chargers has one in stock, but only in Blue Bay Harbour. Think I can make it there and back in time?"

"I don't even think Emma's going to show," Noah said, "So yeah, take all the time you need."

"She'll show. She's got to leave that room sometime."

"Can't you just let her soak in her heartbreak?"

Gia looked across the table at Noah and shook her head, "Would you believe me if I told you Cliff leaving broke my heart?"

"Gia…"

"The thing that sucks the most about what happened is that I actually loved him. At least, I thought I did. So when he just vanished, everything felt it like was going to fall apart. I had no idea what to do, where to go, or even what happened. I was so scared, and turned to Emma and she just… she knew what to do. And if I was hurt when super-ass Cliff left me, I can't imagine how Emma's feeling. I want to be there for her."

"That's nice, Gia but…"

"Emma's been through a lot too lately, Noah. Jordan isn't the first guy to pack his bags and leave. She needs to know someone still cares. So you fix the camera. I'm going to look for that pink helmet."

"Alright, alright, though I really should be with Jake right now."

"Isn't he home?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"So panic attack over. Emma needs us right now. Jake's probably napping."

"Yeah, but…"

"I comforted your best friend. You fix Emma's camera," Gia gave Noah's head a pat and left the shop. If she was going to make it back to Ernie's in time, she needed to catch the very next bus.

Noah grumbled once Gia was gone, "Yeah, but I don't have a crush on your best friend."


	115. A Pink Helmet

Troy stepped into Ernie's after getting a call from Noah. It seemed important and Noah sounded frustrated over the phone. He saw the blue Ranger sitting at a table, working on what appeared to be Emma's camera.

"What happened?" he took a seat and gestured to the broken camera.

"This is why I don't do relationships," Noah held up the camera. "Jordan and Emma broke up, officially, and he's moving."

"Where?"

"Upstate."

"Ouch," Troy hissed. "What do you need me for?"

"The memory card wasn't damaged," Noah said, "I've put it into my computer and she's got some really amazing pictures. Gia insists on doing something special to show her people care, so I was hoping you could get them printed and maybe frame a couple. Then check up on Jake for me."

"Isn't he home?"

"Yeah, but when I called he said he and his mom were fighting. I just want to make sure everything is okay for him at home."

"Alright, sure," Troy took out the memory card for Emma's camera, "Photos, frame, Jake, anything else?"

"Another milkshake?" Noah begged, "She really did a number on this camera."

"Another shake," Troy nodded and walked to the counter to ask Ernie for a drink for himself and for Noah.

-Megaforce-

"Emma, sweetheart, come out," Mrs. Moran was back and knocking on the door, pleading with the pink Ranger to come out and talk. "Gia's not home, so we can talk about what happened honestly."

Emma sat on her bed and hugged her pillow to her chest. She didn't want to talk.

"Emma…"

"Leave me alone! Please!"

"It helps to talk. Talk about anything. We don't need to mention his name. We can bake, or watch TV… you need someone…"

Emma hugged the pillow closer to her chest. Mrs. Moran knocked on the door.

"I know it hurts, sweetheart, and this has got to feel like déjà-vu, but if Jordan's just going to leave, maybe it wasn't meant to be. That might not be what you want to hear, but it's true. You'll find someone else, someone who'll make you forget all about Jordan."

"He forgot about me," Emma called back.

Outside, Mrs. Moran leaned her head against the door, "That's not his fault. Sweetheart, boys come and go. It was just his time to go…"

"Like mom and dad?" Emma got up and walked to the door. She opened it and looked at Mrs. Moran. "Everyone who loves me leaves."

"Not everyone," Mrs. Moran pulled Emma into her arms and held her warmly, "Only those who love themselves more than they love you. Joe, Gia, and I, we're not going anywhere. It's scary, I know, but…"

"You can't know," Emma shook her head. She walked back to her bed and sat down. "Jordan knows we dated. He likes me, he said he did. I asked if we could start again and he said no."

"He's probably not ready, sweetheart," Mrs. Moran explained. "What happened to him, even if he doesn't remember, has to be especially scary. He's lost a part of his life."

"I could help him find himself."

"Him moving might not be the best decision, but it's not your call to make," Mrs. Moran shook her head. "He's not lost a big part of his life, and the time he's gotten to know you is even less than that. You were important to him once, but that's gone."

"Yeah, but…"

"His parents made a decision, and Jordan seems happy to go along with it. If you love him, you have to let him go."

"Really, you're going to tell me that?"

"If he comes back, he's yours. If he doesn't, he never was."

"That doesn't help."

"But it's true," Mrs. Moran smiled. She gave Emma a little squeeze, "If you need some time to cry and feel sorry for yourself, then by all means take it, but I don't want you sitting here, in the dark, alone."

Mrs. Moran reached to the lamp on the night table and switched it on, "You've been through enough, sweetheart, and I worry. Come downstairs with me. Joe's in the den, I'll be in the kitchen, you'll have the living room to yourself. I promise you'll have the privacy you need."

Emma nodded her head and followed Mrs. Moran down the stairs.

-Megaforce-

Gia made it to Blue Bay Harbour quickly and found the store she was looking for. She just hoped they still had the one pink helmet on the shelves. But as she walked in, she saw a girl and her mother walking out with the very helmet she had come to buy. Her heart sank.

"Dammit…"

"Need any help?" a voice asked from behind and it caused Gia to jump. She turned around and was immediately floored.

"You're Dustin Brooks."

"A fan?" Dustin looked to her with a smile. Gia shook her head.

"Not me," she answered. "You're… are you really?"

"Dustin," Dustin nodded his head and smiled, "So, are you into Motocross? Freestyle?"

Gia shook her head, "Not me, my friend. She's more into BMX, but growing up she… well, she was crazy for you. And now I've said too much."

"No, no, it's really sweet," Dustin smiled and he walked Gia over to the counter. "Normally when people come in here and they're fans, they're looking for Blake or Hunter. It's kind of nice to have someone in here who can recognize me off the bat."

"Hard not to," Gia muttered, "Her locker was littered with pictures of you in middle school. And I've said too much again."

"Naw, it's cool. That can stay between us," Dustin chuckled and shook his head. "So, is she here? It'd be awesome to meet a fan, and rub it in Blake and Hunter's faces."

"She's uh… she's not," Gia looked down at the broken helmet she had brought with her to compare. Dustin saw the large crack and immediately he assumed the worst. He knew just how dangerous BMX could be.

"I'm so sorry…"

"It's not that," Gia stumbled out quickly, "She's fine, it's just… she kind of loved this guy who doesn't know it, but he stomped on her heart."

"Yeah, I know how that feels," Dustin muttered. "So you're looking for a gift to cheer her up?"

"She needs a helmet. She smashed hers," Gia held up the helmet. "Obviously it's no good now. I can't have her riding around when the thing protecting her head has a huge crack in it."

"You can't," Dustin took the helmet and inspected it, "This is beyond gone."

"The helmet means a lot to her," Gia said. "Her parents are pretty… well, they were shitty. They couldn't make it home for Christmas one year and so Emma didn't get any presents. Dad, my dad, raced out to the stores last minute and bought her this and a new bike. I wanted to get a new one to replace it but…"

Dustin hissed inwardly and looked to the door, "Oh, dude, I just sold our last one."

"Yeah…"

"Well…" Dustin hurried over to the shelves that stocked the helmets and he picked one out. "This one is amazing. It's strong, it's comfortable, it's…"

"Not pink."

"You want pink?" Dustin asked. "Okay, well… I don't have a lot of pink. Just that one."

"When are you getting more in?"

"Not for a while," Dustin shook his head. Gia groaned and leaned against the counter. That wouldn't work. If Emma was upset over Jordan, then at some point she would want to ride to clear her head. Worried Emma would be in a state where she didn't care about safety, Gia wanted to have the helmet available so Emma wouldn't have to choose to ride without. By now, it was second nature for the pink Ranger to strap on her helmet anytime she mounted her bike.

"You don't have anything? Not even in the back?"

"Nope," Dustin sighed. "Not a lot of girls come in here, and you might not believe this, but pink isn't a huge seller for guys."

"Now what?" Gia groaned. She checked the time on her cell phone, "I don't have time to look around anywhere else."

"Well… what about this helmet?" Dustin picked his first choice off the shelf and brought it to the counter. Then he walked to the back, out of sight for Gia. When he came back, he was holding what looked like one of his own helmets. He pulled out a sharpie from the drawer beside the cash and signed the helmet. "Emma, right?"

"There's no way I can afford that…"

Dustin shook his head. He put his helmet in Gia's hands, "No charge, and half price for the helmet."

"Half price?"

"It's not what you wanted," Dustin nodded, "You shouldn't pay full price for something you don't want. And besides, you seem like a good person. Coming all this way for a friend; wanting to do something nice for her. It's the least I can do."

"So, I get two helmets? One signed by you, Dustin Brooks, for half the price of one?"

"Don't tell my boss," Dustin smirked and whispered, "I'll cover the other half. She'll flip if she finds out I'm throwing away discounts."

"Alright, now I might be a fan," Gia looked at Dustin's signed helmet and smiled, "This is really cool of you."

"As long as it helps, it's my pleasure. You can tell her I've ridden with that helmet too. That explains the scuffs and sweat stains."

"Seriously, this is so cool of you. She's going to flip," Gia tucked the helmet under her arm, handed Dustin the money she owed him, and then picked up the new helmet.

"And stop by anytime, I'd love to meet her."

"You might never get the chance," Gia grinned and looked down at the helmet again, "This could very well be the thing that kills her."

"A happy death, I hope?"

"Happy would be an understatement. Thank you, Dustin. This is really going to help."

Dustin smiled as he watched Gia leave the store, then he turned around and saw Kelly glaring at him.

"Again, Dustin?"

"She's a good kid!"

"You'll believe any sob story you hear."

"She was telling the truth, Kel. She's a good person, I can feel it."

"In the whole five minutes you've known her?"

"Yeah," Dustin smiled. Kelly rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"It's a wonder I'm not bankrupt. No more discounts tonight, Dustin."

"Or what?" Dustin smirked playfully as he teased his boss.

Kelly just groaned and shook her head, "Just please, no more discounts."

"Dude, you'll never believe what just happened," Shane rushed into the store, carrying half of his skateboard in one hand and half in the other hand. Dustin turned to Kelly. It was obvious Shane would need a new one and he only ever bought skateboards from Storm Chargers.

"Full price!" Kelly called out before going to the back of the store. Shane frowned.

"I've never paid full price. What's this?"

"Blame Dustin," Kelly called back. Dustin shrugged his shoulders.

"Sorry, dude."


	116. Stubborn

After printing off the photos, Troy went around town looking for some frames. He couldn't imagine how heartbroken Emma felt and was glad he could do something to help. He knew she loved taking pictures, and so had to assume she loved to have pictures around. When he had gone through the photos that could be printed, he made sure to get some of the shots she had taken in the woods, a picture of her and Gia, and pictures of the team.

Now all he needed were a few frames. Simply handing Emma pictures that she had taken herself was no real gift. The frames would be a nice touch. But when he walked into the store, he saw the last person he wanted to see.

"Jordan?"

"New kid?" Jordan turned around and saw Troy. The red Ranger walked up to the slightly taller boy and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I heard what you did to Emma."

"I didn't do anything," Jordan groaned. From his words, Jordan could assume Emma was friends with the new kid. "I don't remember dating her and I'm not ready for that. It just… wouldn't work between us."

"So you have to move?"

"My parents made that decision and I kind of want to go," Jordan nodded. "This place is dangerous with all those monsters running around. Look, I didn't mean to hurt her but…"

"Maybe you didn't have to stomp on her heart quite as hard as you did," Troy scoffed. He reached into his bag and pulled out an extra picture he had printed. It was one of Jordan and Emma. He wasn't sure she would want it and so didn't plan on having it framed, but he knew Jordan meant a lot to Emma. At the very least, he could give the picture to Gia so that, when Emma was ready, she could have a little reminder of the one that got away. Though Troy hadn't known Emma for long, he could see the way her eyes lit up when she spoke about Jordan. He was someone who, no matter what happened between them, Emma would never forget.

But Troy had a better idea for the picture.

"If you leave town, you're never going to remember what you've lost," he handed the picture to Jordan. "If you walk away, this is what you're leaving behind."

"I do like her," Jordan stared down at the picture with a sigh, "I've always liked her. I just… I can't start over. It wouldn't be fair for me or for her," he held out the picture for Troy to take, but the red Ranger shook his head.

"Take it with you. If you leave, it'll be your only shot at remembering."

"I am leaving. The house is for sale and we've already got an interested buyer."

"Who? Who could possibly want to move here knowing what's happening?"

"Crazy people," Jordan said. "Dad says he's some doctor guy. Doctor Oliver."

"Do what you want, Jordan," Troy shrugged his shoulders, "But leaving will not make you happy."

"I think it's the best thing for me right now."

"The best thing for you, if you do leave, is to get out of here before you bump into Gia."

"Emma's friend?"

"Unless you want to lose more of your memories."

"Look, I'm sorry about all this but… there's nothing I can do," Jordan tried again to hand the picture back. "Emma can't be my girlfriend."

"Keep it," Troy said and then he walked off to find the picture frames he was looking for. Jordan sighed and looked down at the picture again.

-Megaforce-

After getting Emma a knew helmet, and a signed Dustin Brooks helmet, Gia raced back to Ernie's as quickly as she could. She didn't want to miss the two hour mark, where Emma was supposed to meet up with her.

She got into the shop and saw Noah sipping a milkshake, finishing up work on Emma's camera. It looked like he was almost done. Gia took back her seat and smiled.

"You're amazing. She's going to love that."

"Just tell her not to smash it to pieces again," Noah groaned. He put the finishing touches on the camera and set it on the table, "My fingers are killing me."

"I really appreciate this."

"As long as she feels better soon," Noah said. Then he pointed to the two helmets Gia set on the table and frowned, "Neither of those look like the right one."

"I was too late for the pink helmet," Gia said, "So I'm hoping Emma's going to like this one instead. Especially seeing as I got this with it."

She turned Dustin's helmet around, showing Noah the signature. He read it and then shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't get it. Who is Dustin Brooks?"

"In middle school, Emma had as big a crush on Dustin Brooks as Jake has on me. He was all she could talk about sometimes. I had plans to murder him."

"Seriously?"

"Turns out, he's a really cool guy," Gia smiled. "I told him about Emma and what the helmet meant to her. He couldn't really do anything about replacing it so he made getting a new one worthwhile."

"Hopefully this will cheer her up," Noah said. At that moment, Troy walked back into the shop, carrying a few picture frames in his arms. Gia looked to him curiously before she saw what the picture frames were holding. She turned to Noah.

"Why do I get the feeling you had something to do about this?"

"Her camera has a memory card and it was still intact. I thought we would save some pictures," Noah said and he turned to Troy. "Thanks."

"I printed ones I thought she would like," Troy showed off the pictures to Gia. "She's really good."

"No surprise there," Gia said and smiled when she saw the pictures of Emma and the rest of the team. "This will really help. Jordan deciding to move away from her is the worst thing he could have done."

"And he doesn't even know it," Troy sighed. "It's got to be killing her. First her parents, now her boyfriend."

"Speaking of Emma," Noah checked his watch, "She's late. Not that I thought she would turn up, but she's late."

"That means she's not coming," Gia took out her phone and sent a message to Emma, reminding her she had taken everything of value and would only return it if Emma showed up. In response, all she got was _"Keep it."_

"What made you seek out her help?" Noah asked when he saw the disappointed look on Gia's face. "You know, after Cliff."

She sighed and shook her head, "My boyfriend leaving me, realizing Emma was right about him, and being too scared to turn to anyone else because I didn't think they would believe me."

"That won't work." Troy answered. He got up, "Noah and I can walk you home, Gia…"

"I'm staying here," Gia said. "She's got to come out."

"Ernie's going to be closing up soon," Noah pointed out, and he gestured to the bar Ernie was wiping down, "He's going to have to kick you out."

"And it'll be dark," Troy added. "You'll be by yourself because we've got to get home."

"So then Emma will have to come and get me," Gia said. Troy and Noah looked to each other and sighed. Gia shrugged her shoulders, "She'll have to leave her room."

"Gia…"

"I'm more scared of losing her than anything there is out there," Gia pointed to the street. "I'll stay with Ernie until the store is closed."

"Keep an eye on her, Ernie," Troy called out to Ernie, who looked up and nodded his head. He could hear everything the teens were saying. Troy knew this and lowered his voice, "Gia, keep your morpher…"

"Right here," Gia tapped her bag and smiled, "I'll be fine."

"And call us when you do get home," Noah said. "Just so we know you're okay."

Gia nodded, gave her word to the boys and watched them go. She rested her arms and head on Dustin's helmet and watched as Ernie walked to the door and locked it.

"You're welcome to wait inside," he told her. "Just let me know when you leave so I can lock behind you."

"Thanks, Ernie," Gia smiled. She checked her phone, surprised to see a message from Emma waiting for her.

"_Just come home. I'm not leaving and it's getting late."_

"_You know where to find me."_

"_I'm in the living room. Your mom talked me out."_

"_I'm at Ernie's."_

There was no response from Emma after that. Gia sighed and hugged the helmet a little closer.


	117. Cheer Up

Gia waited in Ernie's Brainfreeze. It was almost midnight and there was still no sign of Emma. Ernie had allowed her to stay as long as she pleased, and she was willing to wait until morning for Emma to show. All she wanted to do was cheer up her best friend and get her to talk. She knew a break-up was hard, and remembered how much she had suffered after Cliff. If her heart could break that much for a man who treated her so poorly, she couldn't imagine the pain Emma was feeling. Her break-up with Jordan was far from fair, but that didn't stop it being real.

It wasn't enough that Emma was just down in the living room at home. She needed to open up. Gia was the queen of keeping her thoughts and feelings to herself and it never did her any good. She wouldn't let Emma fall into the same trap.

Her phone buzzed. It was a message from her parents. As long as she was at Ernie's, they were fine with letting her stay out, but they couldn't keep themselves from worrying. She let them know she was safe but was now ignoring calls and messages from Emma. Her best friend, if she wanted to see her again, had to come out of the house, and if she wanted all her stuff back, she had to come find Gia.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, which startled Gia. She jumped from her seat and looked over, seeing an angry Emma standing on the other side of the glass, glaring at her. Gia ran to the door, opened it, and let her best friend in. She pulled Emma in for a hug, but Emma didn't respond. Instead, she pulled away from the yellow Ranger and shoved her.

"I don't like this game, Gia," Emma growled.

"I had to get you to talk," Gia said. "I know you, Em. You're no good on your own like this."

"So you camp out in the middle of the city in the middle of the night?" Emma shook her head. "What if something happened?"

"Ernie's upstairs," Gia pointed to the ceiling. Emma shoved her again.

"What if you decided to walk home alone?"

"I wasn't going to," Gia promised and then turned to the table, "I've got your stuff…"

"I don't care about that! Half that stuff's busted anyways," Emma cried and grabbed Gia by the wrist. The yellow Ranger pulled her arm free.

"Look," she held up Emma's camera, showing her it was fixed. Emma stopped to stare at it for a moment. She remembered throwing it to the street in anger and she had seen it shattered. Now, as Gia held it, it looked like nothing had ever happened to it. It was back in one piece and if Gia was showing it to her, it was likely it was also functioning. She grabbed the camera and put it around her neck, "Alright, fine…"

"Noah fixed it," Gia smiled. "He spent the two hours slaving away, getting this to work for you."

"Because you asked him…"

"So?" Gia asked and shook her head, "He still did it for you. He wants to know you're okay. And he's sorry for what happened. He feels like it's his fault. He cares about you, Emma. We all do."

Gia picked up the frames from the table and showed them and the pictures to Troy, "Your memory card was still good, so Troy printed out pictures he thought you would like and bought you frames for them. Isn't that sweet? He cares too…"

"Yeah, but…"

Gia picked up her bag and pulled out Emma's old helmet. She saw Emma's face fall further into sadness when she noticed the large crack in the shell. Fortunately, he bike hadn't been damaged by Emma's abused, but without a helmet, the bike was useless. Then Gia pulled out a new helmet.

"I tried getting an identical one, but as soon as I got to the store, they had sold out, so you're going to have to settle for this stupid thing," Gia put the helmet in Emma's hand. "The guy at the store there told me it was a really good helmet, though. It'll keep your head safe."

"Gia…"

"And he also gave me this," Gia grabbed Dustin's motocross helmet from her chair and showed it to Emma. "To make up for not having any pink helmets."

Emma examined the motocross helmet suspiciously before she saw something written across the side.

_To Emma, from your friend, Dustin Brooks._

Emma glanced up at Gia, "No way…"

"He was working at Storm Chargers," Gia nodded her head. "I told him you were a fan and he…"

"He signed a helmet for you?"

"He was pretty cool."

Emma let a smile appear on her lips for a moment, and then looked back up at Gia, "Wait, Storm Chargers… you mean Blue Bay Harbour?"

"It's just a twenty minute bus ride," Gia shrugged her shoulders. "A lot easier than my trip to Panorama."

"Please tell me Noah or Troy went with you."

"Well… Noah was working on the camera and Troy… I didn't even know he was helping until… OW! That _hurt_!"

"Are you stupid?"

"I'm never buying you anything new," Gia muttered and rubbed her arm, sure it was going to bruise, "Emma…"

"What if something had happened? What if the bus had crashed, or some stranger saw you walking alone?"

"I had my phone and my morpher," Gia said to comfort Emma, "And Noah knew where I was and when I was supposed to be coming back. Nothing was going to happen to me."

"Don't you ever do that again… again!" Emma cried, shoved Gia once more, and then hugged the helmet to her chest, "Even if it was pretty cool of you."

"So, you like it?"

Emma nodded her head, "You got Dustin Brooks to sign a helmet for me."

"His helmet," Gia pointed to the scruff marks, "He's used it once or twice. I wanted to replace your old helmet with an exact copy, because I know how much you love it. When Dustin sold the last one, and heard why I needed it specifically, he thought maybe you could settle for this. And your bike is chained up outside. It's fine; though I had to clean it up a little bit."

"You really did all this for me?"

"To cheer you up," Gia nodded her head and smiled. "What Jordan did sucks so I thought this would help. Does it?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders and looked at the helmet, "It won't make me forget Jordan."

"Yeah… but… when we get home, can we talk about it? I can help you, I know I can. We can talk it out. You know that helps."

"That and time," Emma nodded her head and smiled, "Okay, we'll talk."

Gia smiled and hugged her best friend tight. Then she pulled away.

"You stay here. I'm going to tell Ernie we're going."

"I'll load up the bike in the car," Emma said as she collected her things from the table. Gia gave her a look. Emma rolled her eyes, "After yelling at you for wandering off by yourself, did you really think I was going to walk all the way here, in the dark, by myself? Your parents drove me. They're in the car just outside."

Gia chuckled and shook her head before disappearing to talk to Ernie. Emma took her things and walked outside. She opened the trunk, set her helmets and the pictures down, and then went to get her bike. Once everything was safely in the car, she closed the trunk and climbed into the back seat. As soon as she was inside, she saw Mr. Moran had a morpher in his hands. It was the morpher she had given him and Mrs. Moran for emergencies only.

"Joe!"

"What?" he jumped, startled, and turned to the back seat where Emma was glaring at him. "No one can see it."

"Gia could come in any second," Emma scolded. "If she sees that…"

"She won't," Mr. Moran tucked the morpher away just as Gia climbed into the car. He made sure it was concealed in his pocket and started the engine.


	118. The Notes

Going to school without Jordan around was weird. Emma was used to his greetings in the morning and him walking her to class. She didn't like knowing he wasn't around.

To make matters worse, his locker hung open and was empty. He had taken his things, which meant he was gone for good. Seeing it hanging open like that hurt, but a warm hand wrapped around her shoulders and hugged her tight. Emma leaned into her friend's arms and sighed.

"I can't help it."

"I know," Gia nodded her head and walked with Emma to her locker, "but we're going to have an awesome day, I promise."

Emma trusted her friend's words and they walked to their lockers together. When she opened hers, she saw a picture of her and Jordan on the door. She sighed and pulled it down. She turned to Gia.

"Keep it," Gia said, and took the picture and put it in the back of Emma's locker. "It was a bad ending, but the two of you had good times. Just remember how special he made you feel."

Emma sighed, "What if no one…"

"If you're so sure someone can love me," Gia interrupted before Emma could put herself down, "then you're going to find a guy who makes you feel better than Jordan ever could. He has no idea what he's missing."

"Yeah, that's the problem."

"It's going to be okay," Gia promised. She gave Emma's shoulder a squeeze and then started to pack her books in her bag. Noah walked by.

"Ms. Chesterfield has us in room 214 today."

"We'll see you there," Gia nodded. She turned back to Emma, "Are you going to be okay for class? I can tell Chesterfield you're not feeling well…"

"The distraction might help. Besides, we're in this special class because we kept skipping," Emma said. Gia nodded her head, realizing Emma had a point. Then she held out her bag for Emma to take.

"I'm going to get Jake's stuff from his locker. I'll take some notes for him so he doesn't fall behind."

"That's nice of you," Emma smirked. Gia shook her head.

"You heard Chesterfield yesterday. Your marks have all fallen. Jake's worried about it, so I want to do what I can to help."

"You know, talking about your crush on Jake might help me get over Jordan," Emma teased. Gia groaned loudly and rolled her eyes.

"Emma…"

"You know he likes you back."

"I know. I'm just… not ready."

"I can help," Emma said. Gia shook her head.

"How about we focus on you? We'll get you feeling better, and then me. Get to class. I'll be right there."

Emma nodded her head, took her bag and Gia's and went to go find the new classroom Ms. Chesterfield had reserved just for them. Gia went in the other direction, towards Jake's locker. He was out of the hospital and so he would be back to school soon, but with his marks already so low, she was sure he couldn't afford to miss too much, even with Ms. Chesterfield taking over.

He had never told her his locker combination, but Gia had seen him open his lock enough times to have it figured out. She got in without trouble and tried to search for his notebook.

His locker was disorganized. Everything was everywhere, with loose papers taking up the most room, and Gia even found what looked like an old sandwich. As she looked for the notebook, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"You know that's Jake's locker, right?" she turned around. One of the boys from the soccer team was staring at her curiously. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to be taking notes for him."

"Then you'll need this," the boy handed her a notebook. "He forgot it in class the other day, and I haven't seen him since."

"Thanks," Gia snatched the book from his hand and closed the locker. She wasn't a fan of the school's soccer team. Not after the way they treated Jake. As she headed to class, she flipped through the book, seeing where Jake had left off.

There's weren't too many notes inside, which Gia wasn't surprised by. Jake was smart when he focused, but she never usually caught him taking down notes in class. Not unless a teacher was giving out answers to an upcoming quiz. Instead, the book was filled mostly with pictures Jake had drawn. Jake's artistic level was nowhere near amazing, but Gia could make out the art. Towards the front of the notebook were doodles related to soccer. However, as she got to the middle her heart sunk. The innocent doodles were gone, and were replaced by pictures Gia didn't want to see. They were pictures of her and they weren't flattering. The comments beside them made it all the worse. Gia closed the notebook, threw it into the lockers, and then ran to the girl's bathroom.

-Megaforce-

Emma got into class and saw Troy and Noah were already there. She hadn't seen them since the day before, and remembered what Gia said they had done for her; she offered them both a smile as she sat down. They looked at her, happy to see she was feeling better.

"How is everything?" Troy asked her. Emma shrugged her shoulders.

"All things considered, I'm okay," she said. "I got my camera and the pictures. Thanks, you too. It helps."

"I am really sorry about what happened," Noah played nervously with his pencil. "I know I said not to touch anything, but I can't help feeling like this is somehow my fault. I'm really, really sorry…"

"It's okay," Emma looked down at her hands and sighed, "It's not like you knew that was going to happen, right?"

"No way."

"So we're cool. Well, I'm still kind of mad but I won't hold it against you."

"Is it weird being in school knowing he's gone?" Troy asked. Emma bit her lip.

"Being in school, yeah. He's not in any of our classes, though, so it might help being here."

"Well, if you can't handle it, I'm sure Ms. Chesterfield will understand. Just put your head down, and we'll take notes and stuff for you."

"Thanks, guys," Emma said just as the vice-principal walked in. With such a small classroom size, it was easy to tell she was a couple students short. She knew about Jake already, as his parents had phoned to confirm his absence again from school, but Gia wasn't in class either. Her bag, however, was.

"Miss Goodall?" she figured if anyone would know where Gia was and when she planned on returning it would be Emma. She pointed to the bag. Emma looked to it and then answered.

"She just went to get Jake's notebook from his locker," she said. "She'll be taking notes for him. She'll be right back."

"I guess we can wait for her," Ms. Chesterfield looked to the clock. There was no sense starting when a quarter of her class was missing. While she was sure Gia could catch up on the lesson, especially when only missing a few minutes, moving on without her would defeat the purpose of the class. While there was nothing she could do for Jake because she wasn't in school, she could wait for Gia to arrive.

So they waited, and waited. The school was big, but it didn't take long for Gia to get from Jake's locker to class. Ms. Chesterfield checked her watch and the clock on the wall and then sighed.

"I guess we're going on a field trip," she told her three students. "First to find Ms. Moran gets a homework pass."

"She's at school," Emma said, and looked to Gia's bag worriedly. "She must have just got caught up on something."

"We can ask once we find her. C'mon, kids, I'm not kidding about the homework pass."


	119. Panic

Gia was in the girl's bathroom, sitting on the toilet with her knees hugged to her chest. She tried to get the image of Jake's doodles out of her head, but she couldn't. She felt stupid and betrayed and used. Based on the pictures Jake had drawn in his book, she was nothing more than a body. Her fears were coming true as she realized she was just part of his elaborate plan. He didn't want her. He didn't like her. He just wanted Gia Moran, the most popular and the hottest girl in school, and now that she was damaged, she was easy picking. Her vulnerability meant it was easy for someone to play her. All they had to do was offer her a kind smile, promise they had the best of intentions, and as soon as the time was right, they could pounce. Gia couldn't believe Jake was that kind of guy, but it wasn't the first time she and everyone else had been fooled.

"Gia?" Emma called but Gia was silent. She heard Emma walking down the row of stalls, checking for feet in any of them for a sign of Gia. Gia kept her legs tucked into her chest as Emma's feet walked back and forth. After a good look, Emma walked out.

Gia knew this was a bad habit. Hiding things from Emma only ended poorly for her. But she was sure this time was different. With Cliff, he had been able to convince everyone he was a good guy; everyone but Emma. She had been the first to notice the bruises and the first to call Cliff out on his behaviour. No one, not even Gia, had believed her. This time, Jake had even managed to fool Emma. There was no way the pink Ranger would believe Gia. Gia couldn't even believe it herself, and she had seen the doodles and the comments.

The bathroom was empty so Gia slipped out of the stall and walked to the sink. She looked in the mirror and sighed. She was a mess. She fixed herself up as much as she could and then stepped out of the bathroom. She made sure the halls were clear before walking out and then up the stairs to the second floor. Emma had taken her bag to the classroom. She was going to try to sneak in, grab it, and then leave. She made it to the classroom undetected and saw her bag sitting at one of the desks. Just as she went to pick it up, she heard a knock on the door. She jumped, let out a little scream, and turned around.

"Sorry. Are you Ms. Chesterfield?"

Gia shook her head. She didn't know this man. He was too old to be a student, and yet looked too young to be a parent of a high school student.

"She stepped out," Gia answered.

"I was supposed to meet her here," the man said. "I'm applying for a position at the school. I'm a little early."

"She's not here," Gia repeated. She looked to the man standing in the door. It was her only way out and he was blocking it. Panic instantly overwhelmed her, and she turned to the window, seeing that as her only other way out. She was on the second floor, but she didn't care. She had survived monster attacks and being blasted and blown up on the battle field. A little drop couldn't hurt her.

But as she walked to the windows she realized there was a safety. The windows would only open so far, and it wasn't nearly wide enough for Gia to squeeze out. She was trapped in the room with this man – this stranger. She didn't know him, she didn't like him, and if she couldn't trust Jake, of all people, then she couldn't trust this man.

Finally some help came. Ms. Chesterfield, remembering she had a meeting, came back to class to see if he had arrived. She saw her guest standing at the door, and then inside the classroom was Gia.

"I see you've decided to show," Ms. Chesterfield commented to Gia before turning to her guest, "Dr. Oliver, it's a pleasure."

"The pleasure is mine," the man, Dr. Oliver, shook Ms. Chesterfield's hand, "I'm excited to get started."

"We're glad to have you," Ms. Chesterfield then turned to Gia, "Excuse me for a moment, Dr. Oliver. Gia, you're late."

By now, Gia had backed herself into the corner of the room. She felt safer with Ms. Chesterfield, but again, if she couldn't trust Jake, there was no one she could trust. A few tears slipped down her cheeks. Ms. Chesterfield's expression immediately softened when she saw Gia looked fearful. She gave Dr. Oliver a look and then asked him to step outside and close the door. She leaned against the desk in front of the classroom.

"Dr. Oliver is a new teacher," she explained to Gia. "He will be starting here in the fall. We plan on opening a paleontology class. Do you know him?"

Gia shook her head. Ms. Chesterfield was still concerned.

"Is everything okay?"

"I want to go home."

"Is it something Dr. Oliver did?"

Gia shook her head, "I'm going to be sick…"

"Miss Moran," she didn't have time to say anything more as Gia suddenly collapsed. She rushed over, kneeling down beside the student just as Gia started to stir. She put her hand on Gia's chest to keep her down and then called for Dr. Oliver to come in.

"Is everything okay?" he asked when he saw Ms. Chesterfield and Gia on the floor.

"Have the secretary call Miss. Moran's parents. And if you see students wandering the halls on your way down, tell them to come here."

"Yeah, sure," Dr. Oliver nodded his head and rushed down to the office. Ms. Chesterfield sat with Gia and took her hand.

"Is there anything you want to talk about?" she asked. Gia shook her head


	120. Abandoned

Emma was silent for the rest of the school day. After hearing Gia had gone home sick, she couldn't pay attention to Ms. Chesterfield, Troy, or Noah. All she could think about, and worry about, was that the people she cared for were slowly leaving her. Her parents had abandoned her to live out their perfect lives. Her father loved his job more than he loved her, and hadn't once tried to reach her since disappearing, and her mother decided time in France with a friend was worth more than time with her daughter. Then, Jordan decided to leave her too. Though the fault wasn't entirely his, Emma couldn't help feeling like he had abandoned her. Then there was Gia. Though she knew Gia would be at home, Gia had also been gone the longest. It seemed like every time the real Gia started to make a comeback, something jumped in her way and pushed her back even further. Only the night before Gia had gone out of her way to do something special to cheer Emma up, something to show Emma that she wasn't completely lost and scared anymore. Her best friend, the one she could always count on to have her back, was finally proving that nothing could stand in her way and that the world could be a good place, and something happened.

Emma lowered her head at the start of class, and kept it down all day. When the final bell rang, Troy had to shake her from her thoughts to get her move. Emma handed her his notebook.

"I took down everything in extreme detail," he promised. "Give it back whenever you can."

"Thanks," Emma whispered and hugged the notebook to her chest. If only she could go back in time. She loved the guys, and was happy they had been forced into her life, but before she met them, before she had become a Ranger, life had been so simple. A frustrating night would be arguing with Gia over what toppings to order on a pizza for a movie night. The biggest thing they had to stress about was handing in assignments on time. Even back then, life wasn't perfect, but it was true that ignorance was bliss.

"I'm going to walk you home," Troy stated as he took Emma's bag from her to hold. "Noah's going to check up on Jake."

"But I'm on call if you need me," Noah promised Emma. "Even just to talk."

"Thanks," Emma whispered again. She walked with the boys down the hall, pushing her way through the crowd of students until she noticed some of them snickering in a corner. As soon as she looked their way, they tried to act subtle. She knew something was up. She could smell it. She saw they were looking inside a notebook so she walked up to them and snatched it from their hands.

"You might not want to look at that," one of the boys warned her. Emma growled. She was having a bad day. She flipped through the pages, mostly seeing harmless soccer related pictures – pictures that looked a lot like Jake when there was a character. Then the pictures stopped being about soccer, and started transitioning to something a lot less harmless. Emma's face turned a deep red in humiliation and anger. Keeping the notebook in one hand, she grabbed the boy and slammed him into the locker.

"Whose is this?" she growled. Troy and Noah ran over to try and pull her away.

"Jake! Jake Holling!" the boy replied. Emma shook her head.

"No way."

"Totally, check the cover!"

Noah took the book from Emma's hand and saw Jake's name, in his handwriting, sprawled across the front. He looked through the book, with Troy looking over his shoulder. It was all Jake's handwriting, and Noah could even tell it was Jake's doodles.

"Oh… uh…" Noah slammed the notebook shut when the doodles stopped being innocent. He turned to Troy.

"Well?" Emma asked impatiently, waiting for the verdict from the person who knew Jake Holling the best. "Who am I murdering?"

"I'm sure there's a reasonable…"

"I'm kicking his ass," Emma growled and stormed out of the school. Noah followed her, but he could barely keep up, especially when she grabbed her bike. Noah watched her ride off with a sick feeling in his stomach. Troy caught up to him and sighed.

"Please tell me this isn't what it looks like."

"It can't be," Noah shook his head. He held up the notebook, "Jake would never do something like this. He's an idiot, but he's got more respect than this. She's gonna hurt him, Troy."

Troy started taking off down the street. He was no match for Emma on her bike, but he could still get to Jake's house faster than Noah could.

"What are you going to do?" Noah called.

"Stop her beating the crap out of Jake!"


	121. Help

Jake's parents wanted to keep him at home for a few days so they could keep an eye on him. After winding up in the hospital after being tasered, or so they were led to believe, they wanted to make sure the doctors were right, that everything was okay with his heart and his brain. But he wasn't sick, so he spent the afternoon practicing soccer on his front lawn, kicking a ball into a little net to improve his accuracy. His parents had warned him to take it easy so he did.

Until he heard something crash on his driveway, and turned around to see Emma practically leaping from her bike and tossing it aside carelessly. Jake was glad to see her at first, but that disappeared when he saw a dark look in her eyes. He backed away slowly.

"Not another chip problem," he muttered. Emma lunged for him, but his soccer skills came in handy for him. He avoided her and ran to the driveway, getting on the other side of his mother's car. She ran after him, chasing him around, but Jake was too fast to catch. He knew as long as he stayed exactly on the opposite side of the car from her, she couldn't get him.

"I didn't do anything, I swear!" it was a reflexive response for him. He wasn't a troubled child and he never meant to disrupt class or give his parents and teachers headaches, but he was a man of action more than a man of reflection. Sometimes he did things without thinking of the consequences for himself or other people.

"You're such an ass!" Emma shouted, and Jake was glad the car was made of metal. If it was made from anything weaker, Jake was sure Emma would have torn through it to get to him. He looked over at her and shook his head.

"Em, I haven't done anything, I swear!"

"Your notebook?" Emma cried, "Those doodles of Gia?"

"What are you talking about?" Jake asked and he shook his head, "I don't do doodles of Gia! Have a look…"

"I did!" Emma screamed. "You're a sick, twisted, disgusting little pervert! She trusted you! She trusted you and you're doing this to her? You're going to ruin her! You've already ruined her! I should have known that kiss was out of line! I should have known you were a creep!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jake said. He saw Troy running down the street and felt a sense of relief wash over him. Troy always had a level head. Troy always knew not to jump to conclusions. Even if the red Ranger had sided with Emma on this crazy assumption, he would at least listen to what Jake had to say.

"Emma, calm down," Troy grabbed her arms and held her back. Jake still preferred to hide behind the big, metal car. Emma was a wild card. She wasn't known for losing her temper or getting aggressive, but Jake knew she had it in her to be fierce and unforgiving.

"Calm down!" Emma shouted and turned around to face Troy, "You saw the pictures. You know exactly what he did!"

Noah came down the street at that moment, huffing and puffing because he had run all the way from school. He saw Troy had a handle on Emma, holding her to keep her going after Jake, so he pulled out Jake's notebook from his bag and walked over to his best friend. He showed him the pictures.

"This isn't like you, Jake."

Jake furrowed his brow as Noah flipped through the pages, then he thought he was going to be sick. The picture did look a lot like something he could come up with. They were definitely his style of doodling, and the handwritten comments did match his handwriting.

But he hadn't done then. The entire middle section of the notebook was not his work. The notebook did belong to him, he would admit that much, but he had never, and would never, draw anything so obscene.

"This isn't me," he shook his head. "It's my book but… I didn't do this," he turned to Emma, "I swear, I would never do something like this. This isn't my work, these aren't my comments."

"Jake, it looks bad," Noah said. "I know your handwriting and…"

"Yeah, but that's not me. Where did you even get this?"

"Gia was going to take notes for you," Emma growled. "She went to your locker and got the book. She was trying to do something nice for you, you asshole…"

"Emma, stop it," Troy grabbed her arm to rein her in just a little bit. He could understand her frustrations. She was still broken-up over Jordan and his decision to suddenly abandon her. His lack of memory meant he wasn't entirely to blame. His and Emma's relationship wouldn't be the same as it was, so Emma hoping for things to go back to normal was a bit stretch. But it had been dropped on her suddenly, and it was all out of her control. Her parents had also left her in a similar fashion, disappearing completely without having much, or even any conversation with her about it. Now this notebook incident with Jake. It was too much for her all at once. Troy knew how overwhelming stress could get when it was coming from several different directions at once, and there was no way to control it.

"I didn't do any of this," Jake begged Emma to believe him and then looked to Noah for support. If there was anyone he could count on, it had to be the blue Ranger. Noah stood beside him and nodded his head.

"I know what it looks like, but Jake's not a liar," he said. "If he says the doodles aren't his then I believe him."

"Gia got this from your locker!" Emma pointed to the book. "Do you honestly think someone could have planted it?"

"So she got it from my locker and showed you?" Jake asked. "Where is Gia, anyways? Why isn't she beating me up over this?"

"She's at home sick!" Emma cried. "Ms. Chesterfield saw her faint! She thinks Gia had a panic attack! It must have been because she saw this! She was fine this morning!"

"So you don't even know Gia saw this," Jake pointed to the book.

"She went to get your notebook and never came back to class!"

"Did you see her with it?"

"No, but…"

"So maybe she hasn't seen it yet. Maybe it's something else," Jake suggested. He took the book and flipped through it again, sighing in disgust as he did, "Look, the pictures are bad, and I swear I'll get rid of them, but I didn't do this. I would never do this to Gia or anyone. I swear, Emma, I have the best intentions…"

"He does," Noah nodded, coming to Jake's support again. He put his hands on Jake's shoulders and gave a little smile, "He doesn't always do the right thing, but I know he cares about Gia. Nothing matters more to him. I don't know how those doodles got in the books, I don't know if that's what made Gia sick, but I believe Jake has nothing to do with it."

"Thanks, man," Jake smiled. He turned to Emma, who seemed to calm down slightly from Noah's assurance. Still, Jake was going to avoid going near her until he could prove he was innocent.

-Megaforce-

Mrs. Moran was in the kitchen, getting a head start on dinner, while Gia sat on the couch. After her fainting episode at school, Mrs. Moran didn't want her alone. The living room would give her privacy from the kitchen, but it was still close enough for Mrs. Moran to know if something was happening before it could happen.

Gia wouldn't talk. It was a nasty habit of hers. When something happened, when she was feeling scared or upset she would shut down. Mrs. Moran wished she had taken Emma home as well, knowing only the pink Ranger could get Gia to open up. She hated using one girl to handle another girl's problems, but when it was the only solution to help her daughter, Mrs. Moran would do it. She would do anything to see Gia feeling better again.

She wasn't expecting visitors, so the knock on the door startled her slightly. Regardless, she went to answer it and was surprised to see Ms. Chesterfield on her doorstep. She invited her inside.

"Do you always make house calls?"

"This is an exception," Ms. Chesterfield answered. "How is she?"

"I took her to the clinic. They said there was nothing they could do for her," Mrs. Moran shook her head and walked Ms. Chesterfield into the kitchen. She offered her one of the cookies she and Emma had made a few days back. "I was referred to a specialist."

"For?"

"Stress, depression, anxiety; I'm not the specialist. They'll want to do some testing."

"To explain today?"

"For everything," Mrs. Moran sighed, "I told them about Cliff, Mick, Alex, Gia running away, how we've taken in Emma, that with all the other stressors in her life… I think it's all too much. I want help I just…"

Mrs. Moran picked up the card the doctor had given her and shook her head, "I don't think this will work for Gia. The tests, the questions, having to talk about herself to strangers. She's very reserved. If I can't get her to open up, a stranger won't…"

"Serena was successful."

"Maybe Serena was right for her. Serena did also have to wait until after Gia was thrown from a second story window."

"If the doctor suggests…"

"This isn't right. Not for my daughter," Mrs. Moran shook her head. "I may not always know what's going on with her, but I know what's good for her, and I want the best. These doctors can't help her. She would break them before they could fix her."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Mrs. Moran looked over to the living room and sighed. "I really don't know."

"Can I see her?"

"Living room," Mrs. Moran nodded. Ms. Chesterfield walked over, saw Gia curled up on the couch and took a seat on the love seat.

"What are you doing here?" Gia whispered. Ms. Chesterfield smiled.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You really had me worried."

"Why?"

"I care about you. I want to know you're okay. What happened? Emma insisted you were fine this morning. Was it Dr. Oliver? Be honest, Gia. If he did something…"

"He didn't do anything."

"You need to protect yourself, sweetheart. First and foremost, look out for yourself. If Dr. Oliver…"

"He didn't do anything!" Gia snapped. Dr. Oliver had been a reason for her fainting episode, but she knew what Ms. Chesterfield was asking. Dr. Oliver wasn't responsible for it. He hadn't done anything wrong.

"Okay, so then what happened?"

Gia shrugged her shoulders. She didn't want to say. She wasn't sure anyone would believe her.

At that moment, the front door opened. Gia knew Emma was coming home. She was late from class, and so had been expecting her back any minute. Emma ran into the common room and hugged Gia tightly. She was stressing out too.

Gia hugged Emma and buried her face in her shoulder.

Troy, Noah, and Jake had come with her, and they stood in the living room. Jake stood awkwardly, unsure what Gia knew, what her parents knew, and what Ms. Chesterfield knew. In fact, he wasn't even sure why Ms. Chesterfield was sitting on Gia's couch.

Troy, who had taken Jake's notebook in his hand, looked down at it and then over to Ms. Chesterfield.

"We found this in the hallway at school," he said. "Gia went to get Jake's notebook from his locker to take notes, like Emma said."

"Do you know about the notebook?" Emma asked. Gia nodded her head. At least now there was evidence of the pictures. When she had first seen them, she hadn't thought to keep the notebook as proof. She hadn't thought it mattered.

Jake, hearing Gia had seen the notebook, lowered his head. He knew the drawings and the comments weren't his, but there was no way Gia could have known that. He knew what she thought and felt guilty just for being framed. As Ms. Chesterfield flipped through the book, he saw the look of disgust on her face. He could only imagine it was ten times worse on Gia.

"Mr. Holling…"

"It wasn't me, I swear," Jake said and held up his hands defensively. He looked over at Gia, "I swear, I would never. I'm being framed. Someone else did that."

"How would they get their hands on your book?" Ms. Chesterfield asked. He shrugged.

"They broke into my locker… I know it doesn't look good, but I swear…"

"Mr. Holling…"

"I didn't do it!" Jake turned to Gia and saw her looking up at him. He shook his head and tried to plea with her. He didn't care what the others thought as long as she believed him. "Gia, I swear I'm telling the truth. Those pictures aren't mine. I would never do that to you. I would never disrespect you like that. Please, Gia. Please, you have to believe me."

Gia shook her head. The lies, the truth, she didn't care anymore. If this was going to have a different ending that Cliff, she couldn't believe Jake. Ms. Chesterfield was right; she had to protect herself first. She got up and rushed out of the room. Her bedroom door slammed shut. Jake grabbed his hair in his hands in frustration.

"Are you serious?" he cried. If he were in his own home, he would have kicked the couch. For now he had to contain his anger. He looked around at his friends. Noah believed him. Troy looked like he was giving him the benefit of the doubt. Ms. Chesterfield seemed angry, and rightfully so, but didn't seem ready to convict him yet. Even Mrs. Moran seemed to believe there was some truth to his words. He had his team, he had some people on his side, even if only just, but none of that would matter unless he got Emma to believe him. She was still the wild card.

"Em…"

"I can't fight her on this again," Emma shook her head. She was at a point in her life where she had already lost so many people; she couldn't let Gia slip away from her. Not like this. Though she wanted to believe Jake, she couldn't afford it. Gia and the Morans were all she had left. Jake could try to prove his innocence. If he really wanted to, she was sure he could find a way. And if the truth was that he hadn't made the pictures, then there had to be a way. But in the meantime – if he even was speaking the truth – Emma couldn't be alone. Her parents had already left her, her boyfriend was leaving her. If she tried to oppose her best friend, tried to convince Gia that she was mistaken when all the evidence was pointed at Jake, she would lose her. She looked at Jake sadly, "I'm sorry."

"No, Emma," Jake grabbed her arms and looked her right in the eyes, "I need you on my side. You can talk her around…"

"I couldn't convince her of the truth when he was smacking her in the face," Emma said, "What makes you think I can get her to believe you're being honest when this proof says anything but," she pointed to the notebook. "I want you to be right, I really do, I just… I can't do this."

With that, Emma hurried upstairs to be with Gia. Ms. Chesterfield stood up. She held up the notebook.

"I will be keeping this with me. I'll see if the handwriting is a match, or is similar to any other students in the school. That does not mean you're off my radar, Mr. Holling."

"I didn't do it!"

"I hope you're right," Ms. Chesterfield said, "but someone did. That's my concern," she looked over at Mrs. Moran, who could only stand in shock as she took everything in, "I will find who did this."

"The damage is done," Mrs. Moran sighed and looked up the stairs, "It doesn't matter to me who did it. All that matters is getting help for my girls."

"And the school supports you fully," Ms. Chesterfield promised. She shook Mrs. Moran's hand and walked herself to the door.


	122. Get Lost

Emma sat in silence with Gia in the bedroom. Sometimes it was best to try and get Gia to talk, and sometimes it was best to sit through the silence. Gia would talk when she was ready.

And she was. With a sigh, she turned to Emma. She looked to her best friend sadly before staring down at the bed.

"I trusted him."

"I know," Emma nodded her head. She wrapped her arms around the yellow Ranger, "Me too."

"I should just quit," Gia leaned back into her bed and sighed. She shook her head, "What's the point? I'm never going to feel better. As soon as I do, I just get screwed again."

"Don't talk like that, Gia," Emma said. "Maybe you weren't meant for love, but there's got to be something for you. We'll find it. You're a great Ranger."

"What if that's all I am? Just a Ranger? My life is either going to be the thing that kills me, or it's over the day we stop Vrak and the Warstar and those mutants. Then my life only means something as long as the lives of others, yours included, is threatened," Gia shook her head. "I don't want that life, Emma. Being the yellow Ranger on the side is fine, but that can't be who I am."

"What about your talks with Serena and Emily? Didn't they help?"

"They both thought Jake was a good guy. They were wrong about him. What if they were wrong about me? What if it doesn't get better…?"

"Don't talk like that, Gia!"

"What if it doesn't? This isn't a fairy tale, Emma. We're not guaranteed a happy ending. Some of us are lucky, and some of us are just here to rot."

"Gia!"

"It's true!"

"No it's not! You're better than this, Gia…"

"That doesn't mean anything!" Gia screamed. Emma looked to her in horror before backing away. She let her hair fall in front of her face to hide her tears, but Gia knew her well. The yellow Ranger shrugged her shoulders, "I'm sorry, Emma, I just…"

"You're scaring me," Emma whispered. Gia moved in closer and sighed. That hadn't been her intention. She put her hand on Emma's shoulder but the pink Ranger shrugged it off. Emma stared at the bed, "You sound like you're giving up; like you don't want to do this anymore."

"I don't know, Em. Life just sucks."

"You don't think I know that? I haven't heard from my dad in months! Mom's off in Europe with her lover, I'm sure. The only guy who ever showed any interest in me barely knows my name and wants to leave. Now you want to just… give up?"

"I don't know. I haven't thought about it…"

"Have you thought about what it would do?"

"Emma, I've opened my heart up to two guys and they turn out to both be assholes! All the other guys just see me as a body. I don't trust people. I can't trust people. I've got no hobbies, no talents, no passion… what the hell am I? What's my point?"

"You're my best friend. But I guess I'm not enough for you either. Have you considered what giving up would do to your parents? To me? What the hell am I going to do without you?"

"Emma…"

"Or your parents? You're their pride and joy, Gia! They're doing everything they can to help you, and you're just going to throw all that away?"

"I…"

"And Ms. Chesterfield cares about you. She made a house call to see if you were okay. She hired Serena. She checks up on you! It's like you've got a mom at school. Doesn't that mean something? And Noah and Troy, what about them?"

"They're guys. They're all the same…"

"Yeah, because everyone knows Noah's a sex-monster," Emma rolled her eyes. "Neither of them have ever tried anything with you. You have real friends. You have people who care about you. But I guess that's not enough. So just leave."

"What?"

"Just make life easier for all of us and do what you've got to do," Emma said. "Everyone's going to leave me anyways. That's my streak. So get out. Get lost."

"Sorry, Emma," Gia whispered. She got off the bed and grabbed her bag. She pulled out her morpher and set it down beside Emma. Then she started to pack a change of clothes. Emma turned away. She couldn't watch someone else walk out on her.

Before Gia left, she wrapped her arms tightly around Emma, giving her one last hug, "I love you…"

"That's what they all say before leaving," Emma muttered. Gia opened her window and climbed out, using that as her escape instead of trying to get past her parents. She knew they would stop her, so she couldn't say goodbye.

Emma waited for Gia to be gone before she realized what had happened. Her eyes widened and she raced to the window to call out to Gia, but she had already disappeared. She bolted from the room, raced down the stairs in a panic and ran out the back door. With ease she hopped the fence surrounding the backyard and had a look around.

"GIA!" she couldn't believe what she had done. She had turned her back on Jake, who she wanted to believe was innocent, so she could support Gia, but her best friend's thoughts had come as a shock to her. Without thinking, she let Gia down and let her venture off with a broken heart, a broken spirit, and a broken will.

"Shit…" she ran back to the house and grabbed her bike and helmet. Gia was faster than Emma on foot, but no one would outrun Emma on her bike.

-Megaforce-

When Jake got home he slammed the door. He knew why Gia believed what she did believe, but was frustrated he had no way to prove to her that it was all a lie. The evidence wasn't in his favour. Fortunately, he had his friends who believed he was being framed. With their help, he hoped to prove to Gia that he was the guy she wanted him to be. He didn't want her to feel betrayed twice.

As he stomped up the stairs, he thought he heard a noise from his parents' bedroom. They were shouting loudly at each other, which wasn't like them. Like all parents, there were some fights here and there. Jake caught his father sleeping on the couch from time to time, and heard his mother rant for hours about how inconsiderate his father was, but they did love each other. However, this fight sounded different. Jake walked to their door to listen in, but it opened up and his father stormed out. He saw Jake standing there and pointed to his room.

"We're staying in a hotel tonight."

"What?"

"I'll explain on the way. Just pack a bag…"

"He's my boy too," Jake's mother rushed out of the room, "You cannot just whisk him off to a hotel…"

"You're being ridiculous!"

"Me? I'm looking out for my son! I have his best interest at heart."

"HA!" his father laughed in his mother's face, "You may want what's best for him, but you certainly don't care who you step on to get it. You'd even try to destroy your own son so you can get what you think is best."

"I wouldn't destroy him! I would never think of it!"

"What's going on?" Jake asked and looked between both his parents. His father turned to him and sighed.

"There's been an incident with a notebook," he said. "You've probably heard about it…"

"My notebook, but how would you…" Jake trailed off and turned to his mother, "Wait…"

"To get Gia to back off, I had to get her to believe…"

"I was a pervert?"

"She's not good for you Jake. I know what women are like, and she is not a good girl for you to be sniffing around. It'll hurt at first, but you'll get over her, you'll find a good girl and…"

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Jake screamed. He clenched his fists and turned away from his mother. "Gia's devastated!"

"Serves her right."

"How did you get it?" Jake growled. "My notebook…"

"Was in your bag," his mother said. "I saw it, imitated your handwriting, and you got your knack for doodling from me. I made a few pictures I knew would upset her…"

"Hurt," Jake interrupted. "You hurt her."

"Then I gave it to one of the boys on your soccer team. Your old team. The one you quit for no good reason."

"Those guys are asses!"

"I made sure the boy gave Gia the notebook so she would see it. She would think it was you and would back away. She would leave you alone; you could focus on soccer, school, and just being a regular boy instead of sneaking off and helping her all the time…"

"Mom, you… you have no idea what you've done," Jake looked ready to punch his mother, but held back because she was his mother. Instead, he grabbed his hair in his fists and let out a cry. "Mom… I just… I can't… she trusted me! I could have helped her! All she needed to do was trust me and no one would ever get the chance to hurt her again."

"You shouldn't have to…"

"I want to!" Jake cried. He shook his head, "Even if I never get anything back from her, I want to help! I want to be there for her."

"I think it's time we go," Jake's father announced and Jake nodded his head. He walked into his bedroom and started to pack up his bags. It was then he heard his phone ringing. He didn't think to answer it, too concerned with his own family at the moment, but a gut feeling told him he should. He knew he was right when the ID said it was Emma calling. He knew she wanted a good outcome for him, but she had sided against him.

"Emma, what's up?"

Emma was sobbing on the other end. Jake couldn't understand a word she was saying.

"Are you home?" he asked her. Again, when she talked, he couldn't understand. So he made sure he was very clear, "Okay, I'll meet you at your house, alright. Give me ten minutes, and then we'll meet at your place. Just don't do anything stupid, Emma, I'm coming. I'll be at your place soon."


	123. She Understood

Though everyone was worried, no one was more shaken up and terrified than Emma. She had gone out to search for Gia but came up short, returning home with only Gia's cell phone in hand, and it had been found by a nearby creek. Gia's parents had gone out to look for her, hoping for better results, but Emma was scared they wouldn't find anything. She had never been so terrified in her life.

When Jake came over he brought his father with him. When Emma explained Gia had run off, Mr. Holling went out to help look. Jake stayed with Emma, hugging her close.

"I let her go," Emma sobbed and looked up sadly at Jake, "I told her to leave and she… she took off. Jake, what if she doesn't come back?"

"She will. We're going to find her."

"Not when she disappears. Not like this," Emma shook her head. "She's good, Jake. If she doesn't want to be found, she won't be."

"She wants to be found," Jake insisted. "That's all she wants, so that's what we're going to do. I can call the others and we'll use her morpher to…"

Emma held up Gia's morpher and sighed. Jake looked to it, and then to Emma to confirm his suspicions. He groaned when he realized Gia had left it behind, "And she calls me the idiot."

"She's giving up, Jake. I'm really scared she's giving up for good," Emma showed Jake Gia's cell phone, "I found this by the creek."

"Just that?" he asked. Emma nodded her head. Jake was worried, but he breathed out a sigh of relief, "Did she have anything else with her?"

"A bag…"

"So why bother dumping the phone and not the bag," he reassured Emma, "You can't think the worst. She's counting on you. On us…"

"Us?"

"Mom made the drawings," Jake said. Emma furrowed her brow. Jake nodded, "Ask my dad. She got a guy from the soccer team to make sure Gia got my notebook and she framed me."

"Your mother?"

"She had… intentions," Jake sighed, "Look, it's messy at home, but that's not our problem right now. We'll find Gia. We have to. I'll call the guys. You try and come up with anywhere she might go. Out of everyone, you know Gia best."

"I don't know," Emma shook her head in a panic. Jake left her to think as he made a call to Noah and Troy. He was in for another long night.

-Megaforce-

Gia stopped in the woods. She had walked a long way and wasn't too sure where she was headed, but walking helped her to think. As long as she stayed in the woods she could avoid people and she felt closer to Emma. The only person she trusted completely, with every thought, feeling, and piece of her heart was Emma.

She looked through her bag. She hadn't packed much, unsure of what she wanted or where she was going, but she had a change of clothes. Feeling the temperature dropping slightly as the day turned to night, she wanted to put on her sweater to stay warm. As she searched through her bag and pulled out her sweater, she noticed there was something missing. Though she had run off, she didn't want to be too stupid about it. She needed time to think, but wanted to know she could reach Emma and her parents if she needed them, and so she had taken her cell phone.

It was gone. She pulled out all her clothes, turned her bag inside out, but it was no use. Her phone was gone.

"Dammit," she muttered and looked over her shoulder. She had no idea how far ago she had lost it, and couldn't turn back to look. It was getting dark and she would need to find a place to sleep. She saw a beaten trail and started to walk along it, hoping she would find something.

She wasn't paying much attention to where she was going, too concerned with her thoughts and her missing phone and trying to get her life back on track, if it was even possible. She didn't hear someone jogging down the path behind her. She wasn't the only one who needed to be paying more attention. The person behind her ran right into her, stumbling over her, and they were both knocked to the ground.

"Sorry! Sorry! I do that!" the person who ran into her helped her up, grabbing her arm and gently pulling her to her feet. Gia made sure nothing had fallen from her bag and looked at who had knocked her over.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention," she apologized. The woman shook her head.

"It's my fault. I do that sometimes. Lauren says I need to focus more. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Gia brushed the dirt from her sweater and noticed a hole. She let out a groan. The woman noticed as well and shook her head.

"Must have been when you fell. My girlfriend lives just down the path. I can patch up that sweater for you no problem."

"I don't…"

"It's the least I can do. By the way, I'm Ally."

"Gia."

"You look a little lost, Gia," Ally commented as she grabbed Gia's arm and started to walk with her. Gia shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm not really lost."

"Why not?"

"Nowhere to go."

Ally turned to Gia and gave her a good look before smiling, "Do you have anywhere to spend the night?"

"Not…"

"Then it's settled. You're staying over."

"I am?"

"Lauren's got plenty of room in her house," Ally walked Gia down the path until they reached a large gate. When they walked through the gate, Gia saw an even bigger house was hidden behind it, with a big yard.

"You weren't kidding," Gia said. Ally led her inside. The house was bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside. Gia was lost just in the front hallway.

"It's kind of ridiculously massive," Ally said as she took Gia's bag and then her sweater to patch up. "At one time, there was eleven people living in here."

"You have a dojo inside your house?"

"Lauren's a Samurai freak," Ally nodded her head as Gia stepped down into the dojo. She had a look around, in awe at the equipment and weapons lying around. "She trains every day. Best Samurai this world has ever seen."

"Seriously?" Gia asked. Ally nodded her head again and gestured to Gia's sweater.

"I'll put this in my room and patch it up after I shower," she pointed to her clothes. She had been out jogging when she had run into Gia, and so she was a little sweaty and smelly. "Just make yourself at home. When Lauren walks in, tell her I bowled you over."

"Okay…"

"Kitchen's that way," Ally pointed down the hall. "We have a common room just across the hall, and there's a bathroom around the corner. Make yourself at home."

Gia nodded her head and focused on the dojo while Ally walked off to take a quick shower. Gia had a look around. If only she and the Rangers had private access to a dojo like this one. Training in the woods whenever they had spare time was okay, but if they had a dojo where they could practice all the time, they would certainly be a stronger team. It would also help to deal with frustrations. Gia could use a punching bag. She saw one hanging and walked up to it. Just as she was about to punch, someone cleared her throat. Gia turned around and saw a woman, not Ally, standing in the hallway.

"Uh, Lauren, I guess?"

"And you are?"

"Gia. Ally invited me in. She said to tell you she bowled me over," Gia stepped away from the punching bag slightly, remembering Ally had said this house belonged to her girlfriend, which Gia assumed was Lauren. "My sweater has a hole in it so…"

"She's patching it up?" Lauren asked. Gia nodded her head.

"I hope that's okay."

"Yeah, it's fine," Lauren offered Gia a smile and stepped into the dojo. "Do you train?"

"Ish," Gia shrugged her shoulders. "I know a thing or two."

"You looked ready to beat the punching bag," Lauren said, "Want to give it a shot? Show me what you got."

"Seriously?" Gia asked. She was a little taken aback by the friendliness of both Ally and Lauren. They were strangers to her, and she was a stranger to them, and yet they invited her into their home without a second thought. It wasn't something Gia was used to. She was always on her guard, so to see someone without a guard shocked her.

"I can just wait outside…"

"Nonsense," Lauren shook her head, "It's going to rain. You'll be more comfortable inside."

"But you don't know me."

"Trust me, if you try anything, you're going to be very sorry," Lauren smirked playfully. "One thing I learned about people is that they're mostly nice."

"I want to live in your world," Gia muttered. She turned to the punching bag and sighed. Lauren shook her head.

"My world isn't perfect. I was… separated from my family for most of my life. I was separated from pretty much everything for most of my life. I've not even been back for much more than a year."

"Back from where? Where did you go?"

"Like I said, I was separated from my family and mostly raised by people who didn't care about me. They just wanted something from me, and as long as they got that, they were happy."

"I know how that feels," Gia said. She sighed and looked to Lauren. "I'm Gia Moran. By now, you've probably heard about what happened…"

"Ally and I have been on vacation," Lauren shook her head. "We've been out of town for a while and just got back a few days ago. I promised my cousin we'd be home in time for the birth of her baby."

"So… you don't know?"

"No, why?"

"Hey, Lauren!" Ally came back from her shower. Her hair was still damp but she was changed into more comfortable clothes. She gave Lauren a kiss before turning to Gia, "You've met our houseguest."

"Oh… that kind of girlfriend," Gia said as she looked to Lauren and Ally after the kiss. Ally nodded her head and then turned back to Lauren.

"I ran into her on the path. Knocked her over…"

"Naturally," Lauren chuckled and rolled her eyes. "What did I tell you about those ear buds?"

"Nothing. I can't hear you talk when I have them in," Ally teased back. "I'm just patching up Gia's sweater, and I told her she can stay the night. She's got nowhere to go."

"I can find a place," Gia said. She stepped into the hall and grabbed her bag. She looked through it for her wallet, where she would have some cash, but aside from some clothes, her bag was empty. She had left without thinking and didn't take any money with her. She couldn't afford a hotel. Lauren seemed to read her thoughts.

"You're staying here. We have more than enough room."

"No, it's fine," Gia shook her head and held out her hand, "I can take my sweater too. It's old, so the hole was probably already there."

"What if I drove you home?" Ally offered. Gia looked to her and shook her head.

"I can't go home."

"Why not?"

"I just… there's something I need to think about."

"This is a great place to think," Lauren said and gestured around the house, "This place is huge. Privacy is no problem. My parents are gone to visit family this weekend, so it's just Ally and me. You're more than welcome to stay. You can even pick which bedroom to sleep in."

"I couldn't. You don't even know me and I don't know you and…"

"We're not sneaky," Ally promised. "This dojo stuff is all just for training and I couldn't use any of it to save my life."

"And I never fight for fighting sake. Only in self-defence. Only to protect the innocent," Lauren smiled.

Gia shook her head, "But you don't know me," this was so foreign to her.

"You can't do anything to me or Ally. Just stay one night. I can't put you out on the streets. You can move on in the morning if you'd like, but there's nowhere for you to go at this hour, and without money, you can't rent a room."

"Are you hungry?" Ally asked. "We've got plenty of food in the fridge. I was just about to make dinner."

Gia nodded her head. She hadn't eaten since before she had taken off. Her stomach was growling, telling her it needed something.

"I'll set up a room for you," Lauren said and she took Gia's bag from her hands.

"Kitchen's just down that way," Ally reminded Gia and pointed down the hall. "I'll be right in to whip something up."

Gia nodded her head and nervously walked further into the house. When she was out of earshot, Ally turned to Lauren, "She's just a kid."

"Runaway?"

"Bag of clothes? Can't go home? She looks tired and scared. What do you think?"

"Make her feel at home," Lauren nodded her head. "I don't know who she is or what her problem is, but at least as long as she's here, she's safe."

"How do we get her to believe that?" Ally asked with a sigh. "She doesn't trust easily."

"People have used her," Lauren said. Ally looked to her girlfriend suspiciously, so Lauren explained, "I kind of told her about how I grew up. I left out the details, obviously."

"Obviously."

"But she made a comment. She understood what I was getting at. I just… want to make sure she's okay."

"Me too," Ally nodded. She gave Lauren a kiss before heading into kitchen, "Gia, like burgers?"

Lauren chuckled and rolled her eyes before heading down to the bedrooms to make up something for Gia.


	124. Visitor At The Shiba House

After getting the Rangers together, Emma took them out to the woods. When she told the boys all she could find of Gia was her cell phone, they wanted to know where exactly it had been found. They hoped it would lead them to a clue, or to Gia. She told them about the creek, so Troy led the way there from Emma's house. Jake was at the front with him, clearly desperate to find Gia quickly. Noah hung back with Emma.

"I don't get why she would leave without you," Noah said. Emma shook her head. She was still crying and still scared for her best friend. Gia hadn't been in the greatest state of mind when she took off and Emma had pushed her away. If anything happened, anything at all, Emma would blame herself. She had turned her back on Jake and the boys to stand by Gia, but hadn't done that at all.

"We were talking," Emma said to Noah, figuring it was only a matter of time before everyone knew. She also thought it best to share what had happened. She was in no state to think clearly, so if the boys knew what had happened, they could understand Gia's mindset and maybe that would lead them somewhere. "We were talking about what happened with Jake and Gia just… gave up."

"Gave up?"

Emma nodded her head, "A lot's been happening and she's scared because she doesn't know who she is. She doesn't think she can trust anyone again to fall in love, she doesn't have anything else to lean on… she started to scare me."

"Sounds… bleak…"

"You weren't there," Emma shook her head, "Maybe I'm just sensitive because of my parents and Jordan, but it sounded like she had had enough of… living like this. I felt like she was going to throw in the towel and… end it."

"End it?" Noah asked. Emma turned to him with a look and he understood what she meant. He stopped walking and wrapped his arms around her. "Oh God, Emma…"

"Everyone leaves me so… so I got scared and pushed her away. I… I told her to get lost… to… to do what she had to do. I didn't… didn't think she would leave. When she did, I thought she would come right back. When she didn't…"

"You went after her?"

"I let her down…"

"No," Noah shook his head and squeezed Emma comfortingly, "No, you can't think like that. You're hurting, she's hurting. We let her down. Jake, Troy, her parents, Ms. Chesterfield, and me; we all let her down."

"But she trusted me…"

"She trusted all of us," Noah reminded Emma, "She didn't let it show, but she did. And now she needed someone, and the only person who tried was you…"

"I didn't try!" Emma cried. "I gave her my blessings to do… for this!" Emma gestured to the woods, "She could be anywhere, Noah! Hurt, scared, lost… dead…"

Emma looked up at Noah, "If something happened to her, Noah, I just… I couldn't live with myself."

"Nothing happened…"

"Guys!" Jake called from deeper in the woods. Emma and Noah looked to each other before following Jake's voice. They caught up to the boys by the creek. Emma walked up to a tree and then she pointed to the ground.

"Right here. I found her cell phone here."

"It is close to the water," Troy looked out.

"By why would she put her cell phone aside?" Jake asked. "Just her cell phone. I mean, Emma said she had a bag, so if she went in intentionally but didn't want her things getting wet, why not dump the entire bag? Why just the phone?"

"Have a look around," Troy said, "Look for footprints or anything that could mean Gia was here and left."

As the boys looked around, Emma stared at the creek. The water wasn't especially deep, but there were some currents strong enough to pull a person along. And with the rocky bottom, it was possible Gia had just taken a couple steps into the water, slipped, fell, and hit her head. Emma remembered when she was younger and she and Gia had come to this creek to look for bugs. Gia warned her to stay away from the water, but Emma felt safe enough to go in. She lost her footing on a wet rock and fell. A current grabbed her, and pulled her under to take her downstream. Fortunately, Gia had been fast enough to jump in and grab her, and pull her out safely. Emma knew without Gia's help she could have been hurt, or she could have drowned.

"Guys! I've got something!" Noah called and Emma turned around. Noah was in the bushes. Troy, Emma, and Jake joined him. Noah pointed to a spot among the branches that Emma noticed looked like it had been touched. Noah knelt down.

"This is Gia's boot print, right?"

"Yeah," Emma recognized the shape and the print of the boot in the dirt. Noah pointed around to the bushes.

"The leaves seemed disturbed. A few branches had been snapped, so I had a look around. Gia cut through here, and judging by the shape of the boot, she walked away."

"Away?" Emma breathed a sigh of relief.

"Her footprint is headed this way," Noah pointed further into the woods.

"I… I didn't even think to look in the bushes," Emma said. She was supposed to be the good tracker – the one who could notice if someone had walked by and disturbed the plants.

"It's not easy to find," Troy said. "Good job, Noah."

"I've got good observational skills," Noah shrugged his shoulders, "And I like detail. And, if Gia was upset when she ran off, then she probably got sloppy. If we're careful when we look around, we should be able to find clues about where she went."

"But we'll have to do it fast," Jake held out his hands as a couple drops of water touched his skin, "It might start raining."

-Megaforce-

After dinner, Lauren and Ally left Gia alone in her room. She was quiet through the meal, and didn't seem to have much to say, yet there seemed to be a lot on her mind. The girls assumed she just needed time to think.

Lauren and Ally were on the couch, cuddling as they watched a movie. Lauren tried to focus, this was one of Ally's favourite movies, but she couldn't get Gia out of her head. She let out a sigh halfway through and leaned forward, picking up Ji's laptop.

"What?" Ally groaned.

"I can't help it," Lauren said, "Something's bothering her."

"She'll talk if she wants to," Ally leaned back into Lauren, "Seriously, just give her some space. She's scared and in a house with two strangers. If we go prying into her business, she might just take off."

"I'm not prying," Lauren remembered Gia had given her her full name, so she entered that into the search engine and looked up news about Gia. Quickly, she found information.

"No wonder she's scared," Ally sighed, reading over the article Lauren brought up. "This was just a couple of months ago."

"Says here it started when she was fifteen. She dated this guy in 2012," Lauren used the mouse to highlight a line so Ally could read for herself. Ally shook her head.

"That's got to mess her up."

Lauren went back to the search engine to see what else she could find on the internet. Ally continued to shake her head as she read some of the comments on other news articles and social media sites.

"She is pretty."

Lauren nodded her head, "It doesn't work in her favour. Guys are gross."

"Tell me about it," Ally rolled her eyes, "When I go to the bar, you should hear what people whisper in my ear. Sometimes the lesbian thing turns them away, other times it turns them on."

"She's only got one page," Lauren said to Ally as she opened up a social media site called The Harwood Social Hub. "Her privacy settings are extremely high, and she's only friends with… four other people. One of which is the creator."

"That's not a lot of people."

"What's this?" Lauren asked, seeing Gia's name linked to another page. When she opened it, she turned away and closed her laptop.

"Uh…" Ally whispered nervously, "Is that what I think it is?"

Lauren nodded her head, "I hope not…"

"_That_ was gross."

"I think we need to talk to her," Lauren said and she started to get up. Ally let out a groan because she had been comfortable, but got up to join Lauren, hoping this would go well. They walked down the hall and knocked on the door of the bedroom Gia would be staying in. They heard no answer, but this was Lauren's house so she walked in. Ally was right behind her. They found Gia sitting in the dark on her bed. Ally turned on the light.

"Can we talk to you?"

Gia shrugged her shoulders. Both girls sat at the end of the bed and looked to her. Lauren thought it best to tell Gia what she and Ally had found out online.

"We searched your name on the internet," she said, trying to put it nicely so as not to scare Gia, "Just to get to know you a little bit."

"We're not trying to be creepy," Ally added, but Gia showed no emotion. She just continued to sit and stare at the bed. "We… we know about Cliff."

"Everyone does."

"That's got to mess you up," Lauren said. "People like that… they aren't worth your time, you know. You're one of the lucky ones. One of the ones who escaped."

"Escaped?" Gia finally looked up and shook her head. "I'm not dating him anymore, and he's in jail, so he's away from me. I've escaped him, but not what happened. I'm doomed to live with that for the rest of my life."

"Yeah, but…"

"I still get nightmares, I still have a hard time trusting people, and it doesn't help that I'm considered the hottest girl in school, and every guy there is just some hormonally driven maniac with only one thing on their mind."

"I also saw those pictures…"

"Great, now those are online. One of my best friends drew them," Gia whispered and shrugged her shoulder, "At least; I thought he was my best friend. I should have known. Guys only want one thing from me."

"Yeah, it sucks."

Gia looked to Lauren and shook her head, "What do you know about this?"

"I told you I was taken from my family when I was a kid. I was raised by people who saw me as a thing, let's say. I spent my whole life surrounded by people, some of them don't even know my first name. Others never bothered to look at me. I had something they wanted, and that was all they could focus on. I grew up surrounded by people, but I felt a loneliness I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. When you finally escape that… it's hard."

"The guy who drew those pictures… I trusted him. I thought he was different. That's the second time I give myself to someone and I get burned."

"Give yourself?" Ally asked.

"I haven't let myself like anyone, much less a guy, since Cliff," Gia explained. "Jake… he's the first guy I let myself trust. He's the first guy I liked more than just… it's complicated, but I thought he was different and he wasn't. Fool me once, shame on you, but fool me twice…"

"So you're scared to trust guys? To start relationships again because of what happened?" Ally asked. "Gia, you're going to have to kiss a few frogs, not including Cliff. I'm not saying what this Jake kid did is okay, but if he's a jerk, let it go."

"And I want to," Gia said. "I really just… wish I could move on, tell him to screw himself. Him and all guys, but I can't! It hurts. It hurts too much knowing I'll never fall in love, knowing I can never have friends because I don't trust people, and knowing I've got nothing to live for."

"Nothing to live for?"

"I've got no hobbies, or interests, or talents."

"You're selling yourself short," Lauren told her. "Everyone's got something…"

"Not me."

"That can't be true. When I was finally reunited with my family and when I started looking at my future, I saw nothing too. Outside of martial arts and sword training, I knew nothing that would get me anywhere in life. So I stuck with that. With my brother I opened up a dojo and now I spend my days teaching people how to defend themselves against the bad guys. I build confidence and strength and I help people. I've built a place where people feel safe."

"Good for you."

"And I've made friends. Lots of friends. Through them, I found out more about myself. I know what I'm good at, what I suck at, what I like, what I don't like. Through them, I met Ally. I've never been happier."

"Good for you," Gia repeated and rolled her eyes, "That's not my path."

"You've got to have someone out there for you, kid," Ally said. "A friend or your parents? You're still in high school, so what about a teacher?"

"Chesterfield just doesn't want to see potential wasted."

"So she sees potential in you?"

"She thinks I have potential. She's got no idea what's really going on. My parents want to help, but there's just going to tell me what they think I need to hear. They're parents. They can't tell me I'm pathetic."

"So a friend?"

"I don't trust the boys," Gia sighed, "I can't. After what Jake did. And Emma…"

"What about Emma?"

"She told me to get lost," Gia shrugged her shoulders. "I tried talking to her. I tried being honest and… she didn't want to hear it."

"What did you tell her?"

Gia shrugged her shoulders again and hesitated to say it. Ally and Lauren moved in closer. Lauren put her hand on Gia's back.

"We want to hear it. We want to help."

Gia let out a deep breath and nodded her head, "I haven't really considered it yet, but it's been a thought. I've got nothing going for me, and every time I think things are going to turn around they just get worse so I've thought about… about ending it."

Lauren shook her head and pulled the younger girl in her arms, "You have to fight it."

"But it's hard. I've got nothing."

"It feels like you've got nothing."

"You've got me and Ally," Lauren pulled away and smiled at Gia, "We want to see you bounce back."

"Yeah, definitely," Ally nodded her head before she heard her phone go off, and then Lauren's.

"It's okay," Gia said, "You can check," she figured both phones going off at once meant it was important. That or a very poorly timed coincidence. Lauren turned her phone off. Ally checked her message and her eyes widened.

"Serena had her baby!"

"What?" Lauren turned to her girlfriend, "She did?"

Ally nodded as she received another message. Gia frowned and turned to Lauren.

"Serena… I know a Serena. A pregnant Serena."

"Serena Smith?" Lauren asked and Gia nodded her head, "Do you know her well?"

"I owe her my life."

"The one you're thinking about throwing away?" Ally asked. Gia looked down, ashamed. Lauren gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze.

"If you know Serena well, why don't you come with us to see the new baby? I'm sure she'd like that."

Gia nodded her head and got up from the bed with Ally and Lauren. Ally gave her phone to Lauren so she could see the messages.

"It's a girl?" Lauren asked with a smile, seeing the gender of the baby was finally being revealed. Serena and James had known for a while, but kept it a secret from the rest of their family. "Do they have a name?"

"I asked already. Emily's finding out now," Ally said before her phone dinged again and she checked, "Samantha. Sammie for short."

"Sammie?" Gia asked. Ally nodded her head as she received another message.

"Apparently, Serena's insisting we call her Sammie, not Sam. She won't say why."

"Sammie's cute," Lauren said. Gia had a faint smile tugging at her lips.


	125. A Lot To Live For

The Rangers had gotten off to a good start by the creek with Gia's footprint leading away from the water but that had been the end of their luck. They travelled further into the woods but couldn't find any more signs of where Gia had gone. Eventually, it was so dark and so late they couldn't do anything but head home. Noah and Troy walked with Jake and Emma to the Moran's, where they met up with Gia's parents and Jake's father. It seemed they had also come up short. Mrs. Moran sat on the porch. She had wiped her tears away when she saw Emma coming up the driveway, but it was obvious she was deeply upset Gia would run off again, and even scared. Something had to seriously be bothering Gia to get her to run off.

"Thank you for your help, boys," Mr. Moran said to Troy, Noah, and Jake, and he looked to the blue and red Rangers especially, "I'll give you a lift back home."

"Thanks," Troy said. He and Noah got into the back of Mr. Moran's car. They wanted to do more, but they couldn't. There was no way of tracking Gia down because she had left her morpher with Emma and dropped her phone, and they had done all the searching they could. For now, they needed to rest.

Jake's father gave him a pat on the shoulder, "We looked everywhere. No one's seen her."

"Bus stations?" Jake asked. "Last time she…"

"Everywhere."

"Why don't you two stay the night? Getting a hotel room at this hour would be ridiculous," Mrs. Moran offered as she opened the door and let everyone inside. When Jake walked by she grabbed his arm, "Your father told me about what happened."

"Mrs. Moran, I'm really sorry…"

"Just get inside," she closed the door behind herself as she walked in and took everyone's jackets. Emma went to the kitchen and had a seat at the table. She held her head in her hands to keep herself from breaking down again. Jake knew she was freaking out.

"For what it's worth," Jake's father said to Mrs. Moran, "I do not agree with what my wife did. Nor will I tolerate it. And not just because of how it hurt my son. I can't imagine how Gia must be feeling."

"Neither can I," Mrs. Moran walked to the kitchen and started some coffee for herself. She wouldn't be sleeping. Not until her daughter was home, "Gia's always been so independent. Sometimes I wish she needed me more."

"She does need you," Emma muttered.

"I mean… I wish she would let herself need me."

"She did," Emma finally looked up from the table. Mrs. Moran felt it was like looking into a mirror. Emma seemed just as worried, maybe more. "She tried to talk to me about what happened and… and I shut her out."

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Moran walked to the table and took a seat. She held Emma's hand. "What happened?"

"She was talking about giving up. You know…"

"Killing herself?" Mr. Holling asked. Emma nodded her head nervously and turned to Mrs. Moran.

"I shut her out. I didn't want to hear it. Mom and dad and Jordan left me and… I got really scared. I told her to get lost and she did and…"

"This isn't your fault, Emma…"

"It is!" Emma nodded, "She needed my help again and I turned my back on her. How is she meant to feel any better about herself when I keep shutting her out?"

"Emma, what happened with Cliff…"

"I should have helped her. When she didn't believe me I should have done something. I should have told you, or talked to the police or anything! Instead I just let it go. She got hurt," Emma huffed, then grabbed her head again and groaned, "I think people keep leaving me but at least I've never doubted she has my back. I can't imagine what…"

"You were fifteen years old," Mrs. Moran grabbed Emma's arms and looked her in the eyes. "You were just a kid. Just a little girl, just like Gia. I'm surprised you helped her as much as you did. But, Emma, I'm her mother. She is my responsibility. Both of you are. You're both going through a rough time."

"But…"

"No buts. You are not to blame yourself. You're hurting and she's hurting, and Joe and I are at fault for not seeing it sooner, and not keeping you girls safe. Go upstairs."

"But…"

"Go upstairs. Jake, there's a pull out bed in the den. You two need to go to bed. We'll wake you if there's any news."

As the Rangers went off, Mrs. Moran let out heavy sigh. Mr. Holling stood by the counters.

"I am so sorry…"

"Gia's in trouble," Mrs. Moran shook her head, "Your wife didn't cause this."

"She pushed Gia over the edge. She crossed a very serious line. Her intentions were to protect Jake…"

"My daughter's a good girl," Mrs. Moran growled. "Your son would be lucky…"

"Jake cares a lot about Gia," Mr. Holling held up his hands, "I know he wouldn't hurt her. We've got no clue where Gia stands, but it's not my wife's business, nor mine. Jake can heal a broken heart."

Mrs. Moran calmed down and nodded her head in agreement, "For what it's worth, Gia does have something for Jake."

"You think?"

"Gia's been hearing comments about her body and what the boys want to do with it since puberty. There's no missing that."

"Some boys are pigs."

"She knows to ignore people and what they say about her. She knows when someone isn't worth her time. If she didn't like Jake, if she didn't trust him, that book would have pissed her off, but it wouldn't have caused this."

"Once we find Gia, if she needs any type of counselling or therapy or anything because of what my wife did, I will gladly pay for it all."

"No," Mrs. Moran shook her head, "Prove your son is not responsible for that notebook."

"But therapy can…"

"My daughter does not need therapy."

"It's not just for crazy people."

"I know my daughter. Prove to her your son is the man she wants him to be and that will go a long way."

Mr. Holling nodded his head. At that moment, the phone rang.

-Megaforce-

Gia was sitting in a hospital room. She had gone to see Serena and the new baby, and had even gotten a chance to hold baby Sammie for a few moments before having to explain what she was doing in Panorama. Obviously, Serena was concerned to see Gia arriving with Lauren, and though she was tired, she had refused to back off until Gia explained everything. From there, Serena insisted Gia stay close and got the nurses to make a room for her to stay the night. Lauren and Ally would stay with her because Serena couldn't promise she would be around at all times. She had just given birth which meant she had a new baby to look after.

Gia wanted some time to herself. Talking with Serena always made her feel better, and it always got her thinking. Putting an end to her life was no longer an option for her, but that didn't mean her problems were solved, or even close to being solved. She still had a long way to go and a lot to think about.

"Hey," there was a knock on the door as Lauren walked in. Gia made some room on the bed.

"Hey."

"Serena's good at her job, huh."

Gia nodded, "The best. She knew Cliff was bad news the moment she laid eyes on him. Not many people can say that."

"How many?"

"Emma found out pretty quickly. She tried to get me to break up with him."

"Sounds like a good friend."

"I should have listened to her."

"It's not that easy, right?"

Gia shook her head. Lauren took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"I was listening to you back there. Maybe you haven't realized it yet but you've got a lot to live for. Sure, your parents are supposed to love you and believe in you, but you've got a principal who, instead of writing you off as some troubled hard ass, is trying to help you. It sounds like you've also got a best friend who would move mountains for you. Isn't that enough?"

Gia nodded slowly, "I don't want to let them down."

"You're not going to. My parents, my friends, my brother, and those people who raised me, they were counting on me for one thing. All I had was one mission. I worked my whole life to accomplish that one thing, and you know what happened?"

"You worked hard and it paid off?"

"I worked hard, and nothing happened. My life's work was for nothing. Do you know who I disappointed most?"

"Who?"

"Myself. My friends were upset, sure, but they knew how hard I worked. They were disappointed with the result, but not in me."

"What's the difference?"

"Big," Lauren smiled. "At the end of the day, in spite of what happened, I still had friends and family around me that loved me and cared about me and they wanted to see me do great things. You still have that."

"I guess."

"It sounds like you have parents who love you, and support you."

"Yeah."

"A vice-principal who sees you as a person, not just a student."

Gia nodded her head as it dawned on her.

"A best friend who even after everything, still sees the person you are deep down – underneath this mess."

"I've got a lot to live for, is what you're saying."

"You've got a lot of people who will only be disappointed in you if they see you giving up," Lauren pulled Gia in for a hug. "That's the only way you're going to let them all down."

Lauren took her cell phone from her pocket, "I think they've worried long enough."


	126. Gia's Trust

Gia sat in the park just outside the hospital in Panorama with Lauren by her side. She had called home so her mother knew where to come get her and was just waiting for her parents to arrive. Not wanting to be alone, she had asked Lauren to wait with her, though she knew Lauren would likely rather be inside spending some time with her new niece.

Once more, Serena had saved her. Meeting Lauren and Ally and going to the Shiba House had kept her from truly falling and giving up, but hearing about Serena and being reminded that there was someone out there she knew she could trust made her rethink her consideration. Unlike Emma and her parents, who had known her long before the incident with Cliff, Serena had only ever met the broken Gia, and so was the only person who could see there was something more that still existed underneath her shell. While Emma and her parents clung on to what Gia once was, hoping she was just buried deep down, Serena could actually see that Gia was a person. Serena knew Gia was still alive on the inside. Throwing that person away would disappoint Serena and Gia couldn't stand that thought.

Hearing about Serena's new baby and the name chosen was another reminder to Gia that she had people around her who cared about her and heard her voice. The name wasn't one she came up with. James had wanted to name the baby Samantha, but Gia had suggested the nickname Sammie. Serena wanting to use that name touched Gia. Her suggestion hadn't just been heard, it had been valued. It had been a while since Gia felt valued, and though it was just a baby's name, it meant the world.

Her talk with Lauren had also helped. She wasn't the only person struggling to find herself. Lauren had had a hard time figuring herself out, and though it didn't seem like it now, she was still making herself a place in the world. It was going to be hard. Everyone was telling her that, but they all promised it would work out. Just as long as Gia refused to quit, something good would eventually happen.

Gia still wasn't sure about Jake, though. His notebook still bothered her, but the fact that she had trusted him and opened herself to him, only to get burned once again was what was really causing her pain. She wanted him to be different, and knew he was different, but if even the good guys were going to treat her like shit, then she didn't see herself having a future with anyone. It did crush her, but now she knew she had a lot more to live for. Romantic love wasn't the only kind of love. Her parents loved her, her best friend loved her, and she had a lot of people now in Panorama who cared and possibly even loved her.

"You need to lean on them," Lauren said to Gia with a smile. "Your friends, your family. That's all you need."

"I know."

"And find out the truth about that Jake guy," Lauren said. "Apparently, he left a good mark on Emily, and she's a great judge of character. She's not usually wrong about people."

"I'm just scared of getting hurt again."

"I know," Lauren wrapped her arms around Gia, "but you know what, you are going to get hurt again. Someone's always going to want to hurt you."

"What?"

"But not everyone," Lauren smiled. "Not everyone wants to hurt you. You're going to meet a lot of people who are bad for you, and a lot of people who are going to bring so much good into your life. You're also going to meet hundreds, even thousands of people who don't give a damn about you either way. They won't want to hurt you, but they aren't going to help you, either."

"People won't care?"

"Believe it or not, you're not miss universe," Lauren chuckled. "In high school, it might seem like all eyes are on you, but I'll bet there are people who have no idea who you are."

"Well, yeah…"

"And they don't care. They don't care, but they also won't hurt you."

"Not a lot of people want to hurt me, you're saying?"

Lauren nodded her head, "Yeah. I don't expect this right away, but you've got to trust people. And you have to trust your parents and your friends aren't going to let the bad people hurt you. Emily likes you a lot. You saved her daughter's life. Do you really think she would tell you this notebook has to be a mistake if she didn't believe it? Do you really think she would want to see you get hurt?"

"No…"

"What about your other friends. You trusted them, right?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Would they let Jake hurt you? Would they let anyone hurt you?"

"Noah is Jake's best friend…"

"Serena's my best friend," Lauren said. "That doesn't mean I would let her hurt anyone."

"Noah is a good person, though. He always means well. I guess… I guess… maybe I should listen to him."

"And I know Troy," Lauren smiled. "I know he's a good kid. He's always trying to do the right thing, and if he's learned anything in life, it's to protect the little guy. Would he let Jake hurt you?"

Gia shook her head. Lauren had brought up a good point. Troy would never let Jake be so cruel.

"It's up to you, Gia. I don't know all the details. All I know is what you told me, and from your eyes it does sound pretty bad. But if I consider what your friends have done, and if I know Serena and Emily, I think there are two sides to this story. You say Jake said he didn't do it. You say you trusted him before, so I say, believe him."

"What?" Gia turned to Lauren, shooting her a look that told her she thought she was crazy. Lauren chuckled.

"I'm not telling you to let your guard down or fall into his trap. But believe him."

"But I don't know…"

"You're not always going to have the answers. Sometimes, you're just going to have to believe you're not being lied to. So practice now. Believe that Jake will tell you the truth, and if you find out later it was a lie, send him here. You'll have a lot of trained Samurai who will kick his ass."

"You want me to just believe in him?"

"It's your call. I don't think your parents are going to let you get hurt. I don't think your friends, or even Emma will let you get hurt, so believe him. If they say otherwise, or if Jake proves to you later that he can't be trusted, at least you'll have tried."

"But…"

"Trust takes a moment to break, but a lifetime to build. If you make everyone fight to earn your trust, you're never going to trust anyone."

Gia let out a deep breath and then nodded her head, "Okay."

"Okay," Lauren gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "You're going to be okay, Gia, I promise you that much. Just don't give up, you got it? I am not attending any funerals anytime soon. Don't make me buy any black."

"I won't."

"You promise?"

Gia nodded and smiled. Lauren gave her another hug and looked over her shoulder. She saw a woman looking through the hospital park and she seemed somewhat frantic. Lauren pulled away from Gia and pointed, "Is that your mother?"

Gia gave a little nod and got up. Mrs. Moran finally saw her daughter and rushed over. She grabbed Gia in a tight hug. It was so tight; Lauren thought Gia was going to pop.

Suddenly, Mrs. Moran switched victims. She let go of Gia and threw her arms around Lauren, suffocating her in thanks.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" it was enough thanks to last Lauren a lifetime. When Mrs. Moran finally let go and turned back to her daughter, Lauren was glad she was just outside a hospital. She was sure something was broken.

"What were you thinking?" Mrs. Moran asked Gia and then hugged her again, "I'm so glad you're safe. I'm so sorry, Gia. Do you have any idea how worried sick I was? I thought something happened to you."

"I'm sorry, mom…"

"No, I'm sorry," her mother shook her head. "I should have been there."

"I shouldn't have run off," Gia answered.

"No, you shouldn't have. I'm just so glad you're okay," he mother gave her another hug, feeling there was never enough, and then turned to look at Lauren with a big smile, "Thank you. You have no idea how relieved I am that you were looking out for her…"

"Lauren," she held out her hand, "My girlfriend found her and she looked lost."

"Lauren and Serena are friends," Gia said to her mother.

"Well, Lauren, thank you. Thank you so, so much," Mrs. Moran hugged Lauren again, this time without crushing her. "A lot of people were worried for her back home."

She said it more for Gia's sake. Through her talk with Emma she knew Gia's state of mind when she had run off, and would be lying if she said she hadn't thought she would find her daughter dead, or that Gia was in the hospital because she had tried to kill herself. She had dodged a bullet, but needed Gia to understand that. She gave her daughter a quick smile before turning back to Lauren, "If you're ever in Harwood just stop by. You're always welcome. You, your girlfriend, all your friends…"

"Thanks," Lauren smiled and the gestured to the hospital, "I'm going to go. Serena just had her baby and I don't want to miss out on too much."

"By all means," Mrs. Moran nodded and let Lauren got. Gia said goodbye to Lauren as she walked with her mother to the car.

"Dad and Emma…"

"Are at home," Mrs. Moran answered. "That doesn't mean they don't want to be here. Gia, what in the world were you thinking? Again! You know if you need to talk about anything, anything at all, your father and I are always…"

"I love you, mom."

Mrs. Moran sighed, then smiled and held her daughter.

"I love you too."


	127. Forgiveness

Because she had been out late the night before, and everyone had worried for her, Gia stayed home from school. Her father called in sick to work – not caring that his boss would likely double, even triple his work load when he returned. Emma stayed home as well, if not because she didn't want to leave Gia's side, but because she hadn't slept at all during the night and would be too tired to stay awake in class.

Jake's father was the only one to go to work, and he had taken Jake with him. Both Holling men knew Jake would never disrespect or try to hurt Gia, but it was best if, for now, they steered clear. Jake had been up late the night before also worrying for Gia, so his father thought it best he skip school.

When Gia did wake up it was the middle of the afternoon. She was in her own bed with a body beside her. It was Emma. She nudged her best friend to wake her up.

"You weren't there this morning," she said. Emma rubbed her eyes and sat up.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Even after I came home?"

Emma nodded her head. She pulled her knees up to her chest and sighed, "Look, Gia, about what I said. You know I didn't… I would never want you to… I just got scared."

"I know. "

"Were you really thinking of…?"

"It had crossed my mind," Gia answered honestly, "But when we had talked, I hadn't put much thought into it."

"After?"

Gia didn't say anything. She didn't want to hurt Emma's feelings. Before she had taken off, it had just been a fleeting thought. Her talk with Emma and being pushed away by her best friend made her think about it more and more, and though it had remained as just a thought, it had become an option.

She didn't need to say anything. The silence spoke volumes. Emma's eyes filled with tears. Gia walked back to the bed and sat down.

"It's behind me now. I promise, I'm not going anywhere."

Emma shook her head, "I should have been there…"

"You're hurting too. Jordan's gone and I know how bad a broken heart feels. I know what it's like to love someone who doesn't exist, or no longer exists. It hurts."

"Yeah, but…"

"We're fucked up," Gia hugged Emma, "Both of us. We've got problems we can't control. But we're going to get through them, together."

"And you mean it this time?"

"Of course. We'll be fucked up together."

"Perfect," Emma rolled her eyes and gave Gia a loving squeeze, "Still, Gia, you have no idea how terrified I was. My parents are gone, and I'm okay thanks to you. Jordan's gone, and I'll be okay thanks to you. If you leave…"

"I'm not leaving."

"But if you do… if you do, I'll be a wreck. I meant it, Gia, I need you. I care about you. Maybe that's not enough for you but…"

"More than enough," Gia pulled away from her best friend and smiled. "The others might have helped me figure things out, but you were still a big part of it. They could have said anything. The fact that it was true, that I do have mom, and dad, and you in my life who care about me, and love me, that's what made me want to come back and give this thing another shot."

"This thing?"

"Getting better. Moving on," Gia nodded her head. "I want to be the person Serena sees, and the person you remember. I liked her."

"You're going to try?"

"No. I'm going to get better. But first… where's Jake?"

"His dad took him to work. Everyone decided it was best he not stick around. Why?"

"You wouldn't lie to me, right?"

"Never," Emma shook her head and thought it was a silly question.

"Jake says he didn't do the notebook. What do you think?"

"His dad says he didn't do it. Apparently it was his mom."

"Really?"

"It doesn't seem like something he would do. I mean, he's an idiot sometimes but… I liked him. I thought he would be good for you. I hope he didn't do it."

Gia nodded her head. She gave Emma one more hug before heading downstairs. Emma stayed seated on the bed. She wasn't sure she could move. She had been so scared.

-Megaforce-

Though Jake was tired he couldn't sleep. Though he knew Gia was home, he was still worried. Though he knew he was innocent, he still felt guilty.

His father was inside working. Jake was outside the big building with a soccer ball. The field outside the building wasn't very big, but he could kick the ball against the wall. No one inside seemed to mind.

He couldn't believe what his mother had caused. She had been trying to look out for him, but she had been wrong about it. He didn't need her protection. When it came to Gia, he knew what he was getting himself into. He knew it was possible she would never, ever love him the way he wanted her to. He knew it was possible she would break his heart. He knew it was possible things wouldn't work out between them in the end, even if she did decide to give him a shot.

But that didn't make her a waste of his time. That didn't mean he couldn't handle whatever she decided to do to him. He knew he would be strong enough to bounce back from anything. He knew he had friends and family who would support him no matter what. He knew he would be okay. Gia needed that reassurance. She needed to have someone she could count on. Someone more than just her family. She needed a guy to be nice to her, and treat her with respect. Even if he meant he would only be a punching bag with a broken heart, Jake wanted to be there for her. He wanted to help. He had learned from his father that the best thing he could do for someone he loved was let them be happy.

And he did love Gia. He knew that for sure, now. He had been in love with her for a long time. He wouldn't tell her. Not until she was ready to hear it. But words unspoken were still true. He loved her and all he wanted was to see her happy.

A car pulled into the nearby parking lot. Jake paid no attention to it. Instead he continued to kick the ball against the wall. His mother stepped out of the car and walked up to him. She stopped the ball, catching it in her hands and looked at her son.

"This wasn't supposed to hurt you."

"What were you thinking?"

"I want my little boy to be happy."

"At Gia's expense?"

"She's…"

"Not who you think! You know half the story, at most. You've got no idea what she's been through."

"Jake, three boys are in trouble because of her…"

"She did nothing!"

"How do you know? How do you really know what happened? I get you like her, Jake, and I understand why. She's a beautiful girl."

"She doesn't see it," Jake shook his head. "She can't see it, and she's can't love herself because of people like you. People who can't see past what's happened. People who'll always see Gia as the girl who got what she deserved. But that's a lie!"

"Jake…"

"You remember Michaela? You remember how I went out with her for, like, two minutes?"

"She was using you, Jake."

"And Gia saw that!"

"Gia got jealous someone else had your attention."

"She saved me wasting my time on someone toxic."

"That's how it turned out."

"No. Michaela tried to hurt Gia. She went after Gia and Emma."

"Jake…"

"What you did is unforgivable!"

"Are you really going to choose a girl over your own mother?" Mrs. Holling crossed her arms over her chest. "Jacob, I know this hurts now, and it's hard to understand, but I did what I did because I know the kind of girl Gia is. She will never be good enough for you. My measures were cruel, but one day you'll see I was right. And that day, she'll leave you and I might already be gone."

Jake shook his head. It was at that moment, from the corner of his eyes, he saw someone standing on the sidewalk, "Gia?"

He wasn't sure how long she had been standing there or how much she had heard. He took in a deep breathe to calm down and stepped towards her, "Gia…how… what are you doing here?"

"Noah said your dad worked here. I came to talk to you."

"Yeah… yeah," Jake turned away from his mother and walked over to Gia. "I know it's hard to believe, Gia, but…"

"I believe you."

Jake was floored. His jaw dropped. She had no reason to believe him. Not unless she heard the conversation just now between him and his mother, but even that had been vague.

"You do?"

"I've got to… I've got to learn to trust someone, right?"

"You can take your time, Gia, I mean…"

"Emma feels you didn't do it. Your dad is vouching for you, I hear. Noah's a good guy and he's got your back. Same with Troy. Even my parents trust you. That many people can't be wrong, can they?"

"They aren't. I swear, Gia, I didn't do it," he glanced over his shoulder, "Mom, tell her…"

"Tell her what?" his mother said, pretending she had no idea what was happening.

"Tell her you drew the pictures. Tell her you made those comments in my notebook and you gave it to Drew. Tell her, mom. She deserves the truth."

"I'm ashamed you would blame me for your mistakes, Jacob," his mother shook her head. "I'll be inside talking to your father. Once you've realized what you've done, you should come and talk to me."

"NO! Tell her! Tell her what you've done!"

Gia grabbed Jake's arm, "She doesn't have to. I trust you."

His mother walked inside the building. Jake wasn't sure if she would go to his father. Mr. Holling knew the truth and he wasn't happy about it. He pulled his arm away from Gia and kicked the side of the building.

"Dammit!" he shouted, realizing his mistake of kicking a brick wall. He hopped around on one foot before he fell to his butt on the grass. He dropped his foot and held his head in his hands, "I'm sorry, Gia."

"You didn't do anything," Gia sat down beside him. Jake rolled his eyes.

"You seriously believe that."

"I'm trying to. Should I not?"

"It is the truth. It's just… I know how hard this is for you. I don't want this to mess you up."

"If you're really the kind of guy I think you are then this can't mess me up," Gia smiled. She leaned over and gave Jake a kiss on the cheek.

Jake blushed. His face was a deep red and he couldn't stop smiling. Gia chuckled.

"You really do like me."

"Yeah," Jake nodded his head nervously. "And not just because you're hot. I'm really serious, Gia, I don't see you like all the other guys do. I would never treat you the way Cliff, Mick, and Alex have."

"Okay."

"You're going to… you're just gonna… believe me? Just like that?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"No reason. But still, why?"

"Everyone else thinks you're a good guy. I think you're a good guy. I've got to be right about someone at some point, right?"

"Yeah."

"And if I'm wrong, Serena's a Samurai Power Ranger and promised to kick your ass, and her friend Lauren is Troy's Sensei, and she's really good. She promised to kick your ass too."

Jake gulped. He had nothing to worry about, but all it took was another lie like the one his mother had come up with.

"And dad could put up a good fight too. Mom's pretty tough, and Emma's sneaky."

"I think Emma scares me most."

"Why are you scared?" Gia teased him. "Aren't you a good guy?"

"I am. I am. But… Emma still scares me most. Well… not as much as last night. Gia…"

"Did Emma tell you?"

"Just because she was worried. She felt we needed to know. You really scared me, Gia. You scared all of us. If something happened, or if you had decided to go through with it..."

"I know."

"Don't be stupid like that again. A lot of people love you. A lot of people would miss you."

"I found that out," Gia nodded her head. Then she looked over her shoulder as the doors to the building opened and Jake's mother was thrown out. When Gia and Jake looked closely, they saw she was being thrown out by Jake's father.

"You stay away from Jake, do you hear me?"

"If you would just listen…"

"Stay away!" his father shouted and then he turned to the grass. He waved Jake and Gia inside. Jake got up without a second thought. Gia followed him. When they were in the building, Jake's father slammed the door shut. "I'll talk to security. Don't leave the building."

Mr. Holling walked off. Gia looked to Jake sadly, "Looks bad."

"It's not your fault."

"I'm still sorry."

"Me too."

"Are you really going to pick me over her?"

"What she did…"

"She's still your mother."

Jake shook his head, "No. Not her."

Gia touched his arm, "If you're gonna do this, promise me something."

"What?"

"If your mom realizes she made a mistake and apologizes, and if she wants things to go back to what they used to be… at least try to forgive her."

"Gia…"

"Jake, she's your mother. I don't get what she did or why she did it but I don't want your family falling apart because of me."

"It's not because of you. She made the mistake, Gia."

"Still. Promise me, if your mother comes crawling back, you won't push her away."

Jake nodded his head and smiled. He hugged Gia, "She was wrong about you."

"Is that a good thing?"

"A very good thing."


	128. Not Good At All

The good thing about Ms. Chesterfield taking over her classes was that she wouldn't have to explain herself a million times. Ms. Chesterfield knew Gia was struggling, and so would be understanding about why she had missed a few more days of school, in spite of promising she would clean up her attendance record. Gia had brought in a note from her parents just in case, but she was sure there wouldn't be a million questions.

She and Emma walked into the school and went straight for their lockers. As they organized what they would need for the day, Gia heard Emma sigh. It was hard for the pink Ranger to move on without Jordan. Emma's eyes would light up anytime she thought of him. Gia knew her friend had been falling in love with the boy and it hurt her to see Emma so sad.

Emma was taking care of herself, though. She was sad, but she wouldn't let Jordan's absence bring her down. When she saw Gia looking her way sympathetically she managed a smile. They were both going through a rough patch, but at least they had each other for it. Emma hugged Gia tightly.

"Who needs boys, right?"

"Jake and I made up," Gia had said to Emma she would talk to Jake about what happened, but she hadn't shared the details about it. After getting home from his father's office, Gia had to sit down with her parents and with Emma to talk about everything that had happened before, during, and since she had run away. They were obviously concerned and they wanted the very best care for her. Just knowing they were trying their best was enough to make Gia feel so much better. Already Cliff was defining her less and less.

"That's great. You're really going to trust him."

"Everyone else does, so I guess he's a good place to start."

"I trust him too. But still, be careful. Everyone trusted Cliff, too."

"Not you," Gia smiled. She put all her books in her bag, "I'm going to go find Troy and Noah. They should know the five of us are teammates again."

"I'll head to class. Do you want me to talk to Ms. Chesterfield for you?"

"Thanks," Gia said. Emma watched the yellow Ranger go down the hall before she turned. Ms. Chesterfield often had to change their classroom depending on the school schedule, and Emma had missed enough school to forget where she would be headed today. She walked down to the office to see if anyone there could help her.

But she walked in and froze up. A man was standing by the desk, drumming his fingers along the top as he waited. Emma knew this man, though barely.

"Dad?"

"There she is," Mr. Goodall smiled and opened his arms. Emma wanted no part of the hug. Both her parents had abandoned her, but at least her mother had sent her a crappy postcard. She hadn't heard from her father since before the move.

So Emma did what she had done the last time she had seen either of her parents. She ran off the opposite way and went to find Gia. She had gone to talk to Noah and Troy. Emma found her by Troy's locker. She ran into Gia, nearly knocking her over. Fortunately Troy caught them both.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Troy asked as he noticed the frantic look on Emma's face. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Worse," Emma whispered. At that moment, her father called her name from down the hall. The boys looked up and couldn't tell who the man was. However, Gia recognized his voice. As Emma shrank away, Gia tensed up. She turned around and found herself face to face with Mr. Goodall. He shot her a smile.

"I should have known she would run to…" a swift, painful punch to the jaw not only interrupted him, but knocked him clean off his feet. He landed with a loud thump on the hard school floor and everyone in the hallway saw him hit the ground. There were a few murmurs, but the school fell silent.

Gia spit on Mr. Goodall, and then gently wrapped her arm around Emma and walked off. She didn't know where to go for class, but she had just punched someone. Ms. Chesterfield would come find her.

Noah and Troy weren't sure what to do, but they each offered a hand to Mr. Goodall to help him up. He accepted them both and was slowly pulled to his feet.

"Well, I didn't see that coming," Mr. Goodall said.

"Sorry about Gia, she's… well…" Noah turned to Troy for help. He shrugged his shoulder.

"She's always been tough. I have no clue why she would turn on me, though. I practically raised her."

Noah's eyes widened. The man looked vaguely familiar and now he knew why. He bared a faint resemblance to Emma. He was her father. Without saying another word, Noah grabbed his bag and walked off to class. Troy wasn't sure what had gotten into his teammates, but if they felt it was best to storm off, he would trust their judgement. Mr. Goodall watched the boys go and frowned.

"Sir, I am so sorry," a woman approached him and offered her hand, "I was just on my way in when a few students told me what happened. Please don't take what Miss Moran did personally."

"She's not as tough as she looks," Mr. Goodall shrugged it off and rubbed the side of his face, "Though she has been practicing."

"I'm Ms. Chesterfield. I'm the vice-principal of the school. I've been keeping a close eye on Gia for some time now. She's not normally…"

"It's alright," Mr. Goodall insisted. "I'll talk to her parents…"

"No, I'll handle this," Ms. Chesterfield didn't think it was best to let this man contact Gia's parents to let them know what their daughter had done. Gia didn't need something else to worry about.

"I'm a family friend," Mr. Goodall said. "Actually, I'm here to visit my daughter."

"Your… your daughter?"

"Emma Goodall. It seems there's been a bit of a misunderstanding," Mr. Goodall said. "I'm here to take her home."

The school bell rang. Ms. Chesterfield looked up, signalled for the kids around the hall to get to class, and then looked to Mr. Goodall.

"I'm sorry. No visitors during school hours."

"But my daughter…"

"It will have to wait," Ms. Chesterfield said and pointed to the doors.

"I just need to talk to her. I'm her father."

"I'm sorry, without written permission from her guardians I'm not allowed to let Emma out of class."

"But I'm her father. I'm the permission."

"I am sorry, Mr. Goodall. Now, if you would please leave before I'm forced to call the police. There are no visitors permitted during school hours, and no one is allowed to take Emma out of class or off school grounds without permission from her guardians."

"I'm her guardian! I'm her father."

"That's not what we have on file."

"Show me this file."

"I have to get to class," Ms. Chesterfield shook her head. "Mr. Goodall, I insist you leave."

By now, their argument had drawn the attention of Mick and Alex's parole officers, who were standing in the office. They started to move to the hallway, catching Mr. Goodall's eyes. He scoffed and shook his head.

"Whatever. I'll be back."

Ms. Chesterfield nodded and waited until the doors were closed. She stepped into the office and looked to the secretary.

"Lock all doors, please."

"Is everything alright?"

"Hopefully," Ms. Chesterfield checked the time. She was late to class.


	129. A Father's Fight

The school wouldn't help him, so Mr. Goodall went to the one place he knew he could go to for help. He walked up to the Moran house and knocked on the door.

Mr. Moran had come home from lunch. A lot had been happening to his family lately and it was starting to take its toll on him and his wife. They needed to stay strong, and so Mr. Moran would eat his lunch at home with his wife. They would talk about what they needed to do to make sure their family was a happy and safe family.

Mr. Goodall turning up on their doorstep didn't help at all.

"Jeffrey?"

"The school's telling me I can't see my daughter," Mr. Goodall walked right into the house and shook his head. He took a seat on the couch in the living room. "They've got some nerve…"

"Jeffrey?" Mrs. Moran stopped in her tracks when she saw Mr. Goodall in her house. She turned to look to her husband worriedly. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Call the office."

Mrs. Moran nodded her head and walked back into the kitchen. She had broken the news to Claire, Emma's mother, her best friend. She had had to take Emma away from Claire. It was only fair and only right for Mr. Moran to talk to Mr. Goodall father to father.

Mr. Moran took a seat on the coffee table to he could look Mr. Goodall in the eye.

"How's work?"

"Work? Joe, I can't see my daughter! How can you think about work?"

"What was I thinking?" Mr. Moran rolled his eyes. "Of course, your daughter takes priority."

"There's been a mix-up," Mr. Goodall said, "I thought Emma was with Claire."

"For this long?"

"Claire is still in Europe," Mr. Goodall nodded his head. "I thought Emma went with her mother on the trip. There was a second plane ticket, and I thought Emma decided to travel for a while before coming to stay with me in New York."

"So then why are you here?"

"Why am I here?" Mr. Goodall looked to his best friend like he had grown a second head. "I got a call from a lawyer asking me about my daughter and if I was willing to relinquish my rights as her father! Some son of a bitch is trying to take my daughter from me because I thought she was on vacation with her mother."

"For three months? In the middle of her junior year?"

"I came here for help," Mr. Goodall looked pleadingly to Mr. Moran, "I've got no idea what's been going on. I've been in New York, my wife's in Europe and Emma's been here? She's obviously found a place to stay and whoever those people are, I'm sure they're trying to take her from me."

"What can I help you with?"

"Gia and Emma are inseparable. They tell each other everything," Mr. Goodall said. "If Emma's found a place to stay, Gia would know about it. I'd ask Emma, but the school won't let me see her. You've always been there for me, Joe. Please, help me."

Mr. Moran nodded his head, "You remember when the girls were born. You remember we promised we would take care of the other's girl if something happened."

"That's why I came to you," Mr. Goodall said. "Joe, you know me better than anyone else. You know this was just a mistake. I left for New York without thinking, and I've got no idea what was going through Claire's mind. Emma slipped through the cracks, and she probably feels abandoned and scared, and the people who she thinks are looking out for her are using that to turn her against me."

"I got in touch with the lawyer," Mr. Moran said and he looked his best friend in the eyes. "I've been trying to talk to you for months now, but you've been busy."

"I've got a new job, I'm sorry… wait…"

"Emma's been staying with us," Mr. Moran said clearly, so there was no more confusion on Mr. Goodall's part. "When I moved her out of your house, we moved her in here. She's been here ever since, and I promise you, Vanessa and I have not been trying to turn her against you."

"You have my daughter? You… you called the lawyers?"

"You weren't listening to me and it's been months. You left me with no choice. Vanessa's talked to Claire, and she agreed its best Emma stay with us."

Mr. Goodall stood up, "You're trying to take my daughter from me?"

"I promised you, if something happened, I would take care of Emma…"

"Nothing happened! I'm her father! I'm still around!"

"You've been in New York for three months! Emma's hasn't heard from you once since you disappeared on her."

"I thought she was with her mother!"

"You still never bothered to call!" Mr. Moran raised his voice and stood up so he was eye to eye with Mr. Goodall. "It's no accident you haven't been in touch with your only daughter in three months."

"I thought she was in Europe!"

"That's even worse! You have no idea where your daughter's been or what she's been up to in the last three months! I'll bet you have no idea what she's been up to in the last year."

Mr. Goodall glared intensely at Mr. Moran, "Are you calling me a bad father?" he started to laugh. "This has to be a joke. April was last month, Joe."

"This isn't a joke. I'm serious," Mr. Moran said. "I'm willing to take this to court. If you don't agree to this, I will fight until Emma's eighteen. Then she'll decide."

"You have no ground to stand on. She's _my_ daughter! You've got your own! What the hell do you need mine for?"

"I would ask you the same question?" Mr. Moran pointed to the door, "Please, before Emma gets home."

"This is not her home!" Mr. Goodall didn't move, "I'm taking her back."

"Jeff, I know this is hard, but you need to think of Emma…"

"She's my daughter!"

"You've never been her father," Mr. Moran growled. Mr. Goodall looked angrily to his best friend before losing control of his temper. He raised his fist and smashed it into Mr. Moran's face.

"You want to fight?" he asked and then turned his back on his best friend, "We're going to fight."

Mr. Goodall slammed the front door as he left, which was Mrs. Moran's signal that it was safe to come out of the kitchen. She crossed the hall and stepped into the living room as her husband picked himself up off the floor.

"Are you okay?"

"I taught him that," Mr. Moran rubbed his jaw. "If you had told me thirty years ago that would come back to bite me in the ass, we'd have gone to the movies instead."

"I'll get you ice," Mrs. Moran said. She walked back to the kitchen, put some ice in a bag, and brought it back to her husband. She sighed as she sat next to him. "Joe, are we doing the right thing? A custody battle? That's the last thing Emma needs. And what about Gia? We'll be so busy fighting for Emma…"

"Jeff's a quick temper, but he'll come around."

"He seemed pretty… focused to me."

Mr. Moran shook his head, "He loves Emma and he does want the best for her. He'll think about this, think about how he's been as a father, and when he's calm, we'll let him sit down with Emma."

"And then what?"

"Hopefully, they'll make the right choice together."

"And if they don't?"

"We do what Emma wants, but it won't come to that. You managed to talk Claire around, and I know that wasn't easy. Give me my chance with Jeffrey."

Mrs. Moran shook her head, "Joe, you know I want Emma to stay here with us. You know I love her, and I think we're the best thing for her, but we've already got Gia to worry about. I can handle taking care of both girls. I know I can. But the girls and a custody battle; one where we don't have the advantage? Joe… what if we lose them both?"

"We won't," Mr. Moran promised his wife and he gave her a kiss. "Tell the girls they should spend the night with a friend."

"A friend? Where? Gia…"

"Anywhere. Jeffrey shouldn't be near Emma until he calms down."

Mrs. Moran nodded her head and went to get her cell phone to message the girls.


	130. A Good Man Does Not Mean A Good Father

"Mom?" Troy called as he stepped into his house, followed by Gia and Emma. They had gotten a text from Gia's parents that told them to spend the night at a friend's house. Jake and his father were currently living in a hotel room and dealing with family problems with Mrs. Holling. Though he did say he could take them as a last resort, he wasn't the best person to take the girls overnight. Noah was still in some trouble from the hole Jordan had created in his garage. Though he managed to explain away most of the garage disaster to his parents without alarming them of his Ranger identity, or Jordan being controlled by a microchip he created, he was still in a fair bit of trouble, and it would be a while before his parents let anyone else over to the house.

So Troy was the only person left, and he was almost certain it would be okay, but he would still ask his parents first. He walked into the house and looked to the living room. His mother was asleep on the couch.

"Sorry," he said to the girls as he put a blanket on his mother. "Apparently it's a tough pregnancy. Dad says when she's asleep we should leave her alone."

"So…"

"You can stay for now," Troy said. "I'm pretty sure mom will be okay. She wants to see me make friends. I'll ask dad when he gets home."

"Thanks," Gia smiled and then turned to Emma. The pink Ranger fiddled nervously with the strings of her bag.

"Yeah, thanks."

"What do you think your dad wants?" Troy asked Emma as he walked the girls to the kitchen and offered them something to eat. Emma shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm not sure… and I'm not sure I want to hear any of it. A lot has hit me since he and mom left. He hasn't really been father of the year."

"And that's putting it nicely," Gia rolled her eyes, "Mr. Goodall couldn't even win father of the day. I'm sorry, Emma, but he's a jerk."

"He's a good guy," this was a huge tossup for Emma, who wasn't sure what she wanted from her father. On the one hand, he was a great guy. He was smart, he was charming, and he was funny. He had made her smile when she was sad, and he always made sure she had clothes, a roof over her head, and enough toys to play with growing up. But though that did make him a good guy, it never made him a good father. At the end of the day, Emma didn't feel close to him, and when it really mattered, he had abandoned her for a job. He put his own desires over her and made her feel like she wasn't worth his time, and had never been.

"Fine, maybe he would be a good co-worker, or a nice neighbour. Definitely a bad dad," Gia said. She turned to Emma, "You know, no matter what you decide to do, I'm going to support you, right? But I want to make it clear, I hate him."

"You made it very clear," Emma nodded her head and then sighed. "I just wish it was clear for me. Dad's back, there's got to be a reason for it. Maybe it was a misunderstanding, or maybe he just had to get a few things sorted…"

"Don't make excuses for him," Gia said. "You have no idea what's going on with him, and when you start making excuses for him, that's when you start falling for his guilt trips and pity parties."

"I think Gia's right," Troy said. "We all know your dad hurt you. I barely knew what was happening when my dad walked out on me, and that still hurt. You can't make excuses for him, especially if they aren't true."

"How would you feel if your dad suddenly came back, though?" Emma asked and looked over to Troy, "If he wanted to explain himself?"

"I'd show him the door," Troy said and shrugged his shoulders casually. "He knew what he was doing when he walked out on me and mom. He knew he was being a douche. Why should he have a right to explain himself? He gave that up when he left."

"Your dad too," Gia put her hand on Emma's shoulder. "If he really cared as much as he's going to make it seem, he never would have abandoned you."

"What do you mean by as much as he's going to make it seem?"

"I've sat through this speech before," Gia said. "He'll tell you he didn't know what he was thinking. He'll try to blame someone or something else. He'll make himself look like the victim. He'll tell you he's changing, or that he wants to change, and that he needs you. He'll tell you he loves you. He'll say it was just a mistake…"

"What if it was?"

"He mistakenly got on a plane and made it all the way to New York and for three months had no idea his daughter wasn't with him?" Troy asked.

"Dad's not the most observant…"

Troy grabbed Emma's arms and looked her in the eye, "He left you. He hurt you. I'm not saying you can't one day forgive him, but you're allowed to be hurt and angry. You need to be hurt and angry."

"Don't do what I did," Gia said, "Don't dismiss yourself and the way you feel. Don't let yourself feel like your thoughts and feelings aren't important or are stupid. If you do, you're going to get hurt."

"My dad's not Cliff…"

"He's worse," Gia said. "Cliff walked into my life and ruined it. Your dad, the guy who was supposed to protect you from people like Cliff, hurt you and abandoned you."

Emma looked to her hands and then up at her friends, "If dad does want to talk to me… can you two be there with me?"

"Really?" Troy asked. Emma nodded her head.

"You guys know more about this than I do. I don't want to push him away if he really wants to be a good dad this time but… I don't want to get hurt. I want to make the best decision and I'm scared I'll fall for his lies or I'll be too guarded to see he's telling the truth. So please?"

"He's not convincing me," Gia said. She wrapped her arm around Emma's shoulders, "But yeah, I'll be there."

"I'll try to be a little less biased," Troy promised, "But I'll be there too."

"Thanks. I don't think I could make this decision by myself."

"You know, you can talk to my parents too," Gia smiled. "They do want what's best for you, and dad's known your dad since they were babies so it's not like your dad would be able to fool my dad. That would be like you trying lie to me."

Gia looked to Troy, "Morans have always been able to read Goodalls like books."


	131. Hit And Run

When Troy's father got home, Troy explained why Emma and Gia needed to stay the night. Without too many questions, Mr. Burrows said the sleepover could happen, and he was glad to see his son was finally breaking out of his shell. Troy had been hurt badly by people he thought were his friends as a child, and a lot of people had walked out on him, making it hard for him to form solid relationships with the other kids in his school. On top of that, he had been bullied, and he had been moved around a lot growing up, so anytime he did start to feel comfortable somewhere, he would have to leave. Mr. Burrows planned on staying in Harwood for a long time, and so it was great to see it was doing wonders for Troy's social life.

With that confirmed, Emma and Gia would need a few things for the night. Emma didn't want to risk running into her father so Gia made a quick trip home for pyjamas and toothbrushes. She put them in a bag, and then looked to her bed. The stuffed tiger Jake had given her sat, begging to come along.

Gia wasn't one to sleepover. Emma's house was the only house where she felt comfortable. And though she knew and trusted Troy, his house was still filled with strangers. She would only manage because Emma would be there with her.

So, just for added comfort, she took the tiger and stuffed it in the bottom of her bag. Emma knew Gia liked to keep it close. It was the first meaningful gift a boy had ever given her. Troy didn't know, and while Gia doubted he would tease her for it, she still thought it best no one know.

"Do you have everything?" her mother asked and stepped into the room. Gia nodded her head.

"It's just one night, right?"

"Yeah, just enough time for Emma's father to calm down and think about what's happening," Mrs. Moran assured her daughter. "It's a lot for him to process, and we both know Emma's hurting."

"A lot," Gia said. Emma was doing a good job at acting like the sleeping arrangements wasn't bothering her too much, but Gia knew it was tearing her apart. She was being kept away from her father.

"Once Mr. Goodall can sit down and calmly talk to Emma, we'll let them meet, but for now, your father and I think it's best Emma not be around while this is all still fresh for her father."

"Yeah," Gia nodded her head and put her bag over her shoulder. Her mother smiled at her.

"Do you need a ride?"

"It's not far, and it's still light out. I can walk."

"Are you sure?"

"Teenagers walk all the time," Gia said. "I want to feel normal again."

"Okay… Alright, yeah, you're right," Mrs. Moran smiled and pulled her daughter in for a hug, "Just stay alert. No texting, no phone calls, and stay on the main roads."

"I know…"

"No shortcuts. And call me when you get inside Troy's house."

"Okay…"

"And if I find you in Panorama City one more time…"

"I'm not running away," Gia smirked and gave her mother a reassuring hug. Mrs. Moran breathed out a sigh and then let her daughter go. Gia hurried down the stairs. She had promised Emma and Troy she wouldn't be gone long. They were worried for her too.

As she walked down the stairs she saw her father in the kitchen. She made a quick stop to say goodbye, but she stopped when she saw the big black eye and bruise on the left side of his face.

"Dad?" she knew Mr. Goodall had stopped by. It was how her parents knew he was back in town, and the reason they didn't want Emma home for the night. Mr. Goodall knew the truth, and he was understandably very angry. There was only one explanation for the bruise. "Did he…?"

"I'm okay, Gia. Have fun tonight."

"But dad," Gia dropped her bag and walked over to get a closer look. Her father turned away from her and walked off to the den. Gia tried to follow him, but he closed the door. She got the answer she needed. She rushed out of the house, grabbing her bag on the way.

She had already promised Emma that when it would be time for her to sit down with her father, she would be there, but now, after seeing what Mr. Goodall had done to her own father's face – his best friend's face – Gia wasn't going to let him anywhere near Emma unless she was standing between them.

She moved quickly down the street, as fast as she could without drawing too much attention to herself. She was starting to see the whole world wasn't trying to hurt her, but she still preferred to blend in and not be noticed.

Suddenly, someone stepped out from around the corner and they bumped into each other. Gia turned to apologize, even though she had been watching where she was going, but she saw his face and she stopped.

"Mr. Goodall?"

"Gia? Funny meeting you here."

"There's nothing funny about it," Gia shook her head. "You should have stayed in New York."

"Gia…"

Gia turned away from him. There was a lot she wanted to do and say to him, but not right now. She tried to cross the street, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"I want to talk to Emma. Where is she? I know I have a lot to explain but…"

"Let go of me," Gia growled and pulled her arm free. She tried to leave again, but Mr. Goodall walked with her.

"I know what it looks like, Gia, and I appreciate you looking out for her, but…"

"Someone had to do it," Gia muttered and rolled her eyes. "Leave me alone."

"No. Not until you…"

"Leave me alone," Gia repeated, a little louder this time.

"I went to talk to your parents; I tried asking them for help but…"

"Talk? Ask? I didn't know your fist had a mouth on it."

"My fist?" Mr. Goodall grabbed Gia again and turned her so she was looking at him. He pointed to his black eye, "Don't you remember I let this slide this morning?"

"You deserved that."

"You don't know the full story, Gia. I just want to talk to my daughter to explain the mix-up…"

"Mix up?"

"But your parents won't tell me where she is. Your parents are trying to take her from me."

"Yeah, I know. Dad's been trying to reach you for months to talk about it, but you weren't answering your calls or emails, so he called a lawyer. Apparently, that got your attention… about a week late, but at least you finally listened…"

"Gia," Mr. Goodall grabbed both her arms to force her to look at him. He was hoping she could be reasonable, unlike her parents. "I love Emma very much. What happened was a misunderstanding. I didn't mean to leave her behind…"

"Yeah right."

"I didn't. I thought she was with her mother. She's my daughter, Gia. I love her, of course I do."

"No, you don't."

"Just tell me where I can find…"

"No."

"Let me…"

"No."

"Gia, I need to talk about this with her. You couldn't possibly understand what's it's like to have your daughter ripped away from you. By your best friend, no…" Mr. Goodall trailed off as he looked at Gia, and a thought crossed his mind for just a moment. His best friend wanted to take his daughter away from him. His grip on Gia tightened. She was uncomfortable as she looked up at him, and then she saw the look in his eyes. She tried to pull away.

"Let me go."

Mr. Goodall fixed his eyes on Gia for just a moment. Gia pulled again.

"Let me go!"

"Gia…"

"No! Let me go!"

"Just let me make a point to your parents. I promise, I…"

"NO!"

"Stop shouting. Gia, I'm not going to…"

Gia pulled free but only for a moment as Mr. Goodall grabbed her bag and pulled her back.

"Let me explain," he started to say but Gia took the bag off and started to run. Mr. Goodall sighed. He knew he couldn't let her go without explaining so he ran after her. Then Gia ran into the street. Mr. Goodall stopped and he watched as Gia stepped onto the crosswalk and suddenly a car came out a little too far. The driver was slowing down, but he didn't stop in time. He hit Gia, and she landed on his car.

"Oh shit!" he stopped his car and stepped out while Gia slipped down off the hood. He offered his hand, "I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

Gia was a little sore, but okay. She looked over her shoulder. Mr. Goodall had stopped on the sidewalk at the intersection, but now he was coming over. She turned to the man who hit her and saw another familiar face.

"You're that doctor teacher guy," she said, remembering him as a visitor in the school on the day she had fainted. He had been at the school for a meeting with Ms. Chesterfield.

"Dr. Oliver," he said and he recognized her. He wouldn't forget her, "Gia Moran, right?"

Gia nodded her head, and then heard Mr. Goodall call her name as he got closer.

"Help me," she whispered to Dr. Oliver as Mr. Goodall came over and gave her back her bag.

"Gia, just let me talk to you…"

"Get away from me!" she screamed and started to run, limping as she did. She wasn't far from Troy's house, and hopefully this would be enough of a distraction to keep Mr. Goodall from following her down the street.

She made it without any more problems and stormed into the house. Emma and Troy heard the door from the living room, while Mr. and Mrs. Burrows heard it from the kitchen. The four stepped into the front hallway at once.

"Gia?" Emma rushed over. "What happened?"

"Your dad!" Gia screamed and threw the bag on the floor.

"What did he do?" Emma asked.

Gia took off her jacket and saw red marks on her arms from where Mr. Goodall had grabbed her. His tight grip had been the reason she had been uncomfortable in the first place.

"That?" Emma asked, seeing the marks as well.

"Come to the kitchen," Mr. Burrows said. "Have a seat."

Gia followed Mr. Burrows to the kitchen, walking gingerly on her sore leg. Everyone noticed, but naturally Emma was first to ask.

"Gia…"

"Car hit me. Thankfully."

"Thankfully?" Emma shrieked. "You were hit by a car?"

"Gia, maybe you should start from the beginning," Troy said.

"From the beginning?" Gia asked and then nodded her head, "Alright, well, first of all, I'm really sorry, Emma, but your father's an asshole!"


	132. Two Sides

Emma couldn't believe the story she had heard. Gia wasn't one to lie, though she had told the occasional fib, but she would never lie about something like this. However, what she was suggesting seemed pretty farfetched. Emma had come to terms with the fact that her father wasn't the greatest father, but he would never stoop so low. He would never consider kidnapping or harming anyone, much less Gia, as a means of revenge. She could understand how hearing the Morans wanted to officially adopt Emma so that they had legal custody of her would hurt him and anger him, but she couldn't believe her father would get so angry he would turn into a violent, hurtful man.

"I'm telling you the truth," Gia seemed to know everyone believed her but Emma. Mr. Burrows was on the phone with Gia's parents, retelling them the story and inviting them over to figure out what they were going to do next. Mrs. Burrows was holding Gia's hand and had a worried expression on her face. Troy, obviously as Gia's friend, was worried, and he did believe her story. He didn't know Mr. Goodall, and knew this wasn't something Gia would lie about.

Emma knew Gia wouldn't lie to her. Not about this. She had made her feelings about Mr. Goodall very clear, but she wouldn't make up a story like this. However, Emma couldn't ignore her doubts.

"Maybe he grabbed you too hard and you freaked out. Like you did when Dr. Oliver was in the school. He didn't want to hurt you, but you still panicked."

"Emma…"

"My dad's not a bad guy. He's a bad dad, but not a bad guy. You know that."

"There was a look in his eye. I felt uncomfortable. I felt threatened. Emma, I've been around your dad before. I've been alone with him before. I've never been his biggest fan, but at least I felt safe with him. Why would that suddenly change? Why would I make this up?"

"Gia wouldn't lie to you," Troy said, stating the obvious, but he felt like Emma needed to hear it. "I believe her."

Emma sighed. This wasn't easy. She felt like she had to make a choice between her father and her best friend. She shook her head.

"I don't not believe you. It's just… I don't think you're right."

"Emma, I know the look he gave me," Gia looked pleadingly to her best friend. "I'm not saying he wanted to sleep with me, but something crossed his mind. Emma, I was thankful for the guy who nearly ran me over with his car because it was enough of a distraction for me to get out of there."

"Alright, fine, but my dad wouldn't hurt you. That part's got to be in your head."

"It's not in my head!" Gia smashed her fists into the table and then shook her head. She turned to Mr. Burrows, who was just getting off the phone with her parents.

"They will be here first thing in the morning to drive you three to school," he said. "They're going to take care of this tonight, and think it's best if you stay here. Mr. Goodall might try to stop by the house again, and they'd like to keep him close in case he tries anything else."

"What about the police?" Mrs. Burrows asked her husband. "Regardless of what Mr. Goodall was thinking, he did make Gia feel uncomfortable and the man in the car…"

"I don't want anything to happen to Dr. Oliver," Gia said. "I'm fine, and the hit drew enough attention for me to run off."

"The police will be informed if things get any worse. For now, your parents think it's best Mr. Goodall get some space to clear his head. Calling the cops will only anger him more."

"My dad's not a bad person," Emma shook her head and turned to Gia, "You just got spooked. You know dad wouldn't hurt you."

"I didn't just get spooked," Gia said. "Emma, I hate that this happened, but…"

"What if my dad's actually trying? What if there was some misunderstanding or…"

"Emma, I know what I saw. I know how I felt. If this was anyone else, you'd be the first to go after this guy and make him regret looking my way!"

"But this isn't someone else! This is my dad! He would never hurt you!"

"Gia," Mrs. Burrows stood up and touched Gia's arm, "The guest bedroom is the first door on the right upstairs. Emma, Mr. Burrows will help you with the couch. It pulls out; you'll be comfortable there for the night."

Gia stormed off up the stairs and into her bedroom for the night, while Emma followed Troy's father to the living room. Troy looked to his mother.

"Not exactly the sleepover you had in mind… huh?" Troy sighed.

"I pictured a few more Y chromosomes and video games," Mrs. Burrows nodded her head and then sighed. "Troy…"

"It's just a rough time right now, mom. Gia and Emma are great friends, though, and there's still Noah and Jake."

"I just don't want you getting caught up in something so serious. I'm proud of you for helping out, but it's fine if you just walk away…"

"They're my friends. They've got my back. I've got theirs. That's how friendship works, right?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Mom, it's okay. Besides, if the roles were reversed, would you want my friends to walk out on me?"

"I'd understand but… I guess not. Just don't take on too much, Troy. It's okay to step back for a moment, you know."

"Yeah," Troy smiled. "Don't worry, mom, I promise the next time I have friends over, it won't turn into a soap opera."

"Please," his mother chuckled and then gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Goodnight. Stay out of the girls' rooms."

"Mom, I would never…"

"Stay out," his mother gave him the warning glare. Troy nodded.

"My bedroom all night."

-Megaforce-

The pullout bed was comfortable, but still Emma couldn't sleep. She had too much to think about. Gia wouldn't lie, but her father wasn't a bad person.

It was the middle of the night. Early morning, some would call it. Emma had given up on sleeping. She rolled over, at least hoping to rest in a comfortable position when she saw a shadow in the doorway that startled her. She gasped and sat up, ready to defend herself.

"It's me," Gia whispered. She sat down next to Emma and leaned against the back of the couch. "I couldn't sleep. Not until I apologized."

"Apologized?"

Gia nodded, "I did kind of expect the worst from your dad. I'm not saying I'm wrong but… I didn't really give him the benefit of the doubt."

"Gia…"

"It's just… he's the kind of man who abandoned his daughter. Then, when I was home, I tried to talk to my dad and he was sporting a black eye. Your father had been over, dad didn't talk, so…"

"My dad punched him?"

"My mom certainly wouldn't," Gia said. She turned to Emma, "I don't think too highly of your father. I'll admit that. But I do want to see things work out between you. As much as I would love having you as a sister, I'd want you to have your own family, your real family. I don't want you to have parents who abandon you and who don't love you. So, do I think your father is ever going to win human being of the year? No. Do I wish he could be a good dad to you, and that your mother would come home and be a mom and love you and want to be with you and travel with you? More than anything. So, I'll do this, I'll give your father the benefit of the doubt. I'll trust that he wouldn't hurt me, and that whatever evil thought crossed his mind was just that, a quick thought that crossed his mind but he dismissed. But I was scared and uncomfortable when he grabbed me."

"I know," Emma nodded her head and smiled at Gia, "I should apologize. I shouldn't have said this was all in your head."

"So we're okay?"

"Yeah, but there's just one thing," Emma said. She took Gia's hand, "No matter what happens with dad, don't worry about me having my own family. I've got one."

"Mine?"

"Dad didn't bother to figure out what was happening to me in the move. He left me, and your parents never did. At the end of the day, I'd much rather stay with you and your parents than go back home with the Goodalls."

"The Goodalls? Wait, does that mean?"

"Dad wouldn't be able to talk me into moving back into our old house, much less all the way out to New York. My home is with you and your parents. I've known that for a little while now."

"So what'll happen when you talk to your dad?"

"I'll see if we can be friends. If he is sorry and this was just a mix up, maybe I can visit for holidays or he can come down here. If I don't think it'll work out, I'll know for sure I'm better off without him."

"So, decision made?"

"Yeah," Emma nodded, "Decision made."

Gia smiled before settling into the bed. Then she reached over the edge to the bag she brought with her. She pulled out the stuffed tiger. Emma rolled her eyes.

"Just make out with him already."

"Tigger or Jake?"

"You're not shutting that down?"

"Well… I'm not ready…"

"Gia, there's no magic moment. You're never going to be ready. Trust me, if it feels right, even if you're scared, let him know how you feel. If you lose him before you can tell him… it'll suck."

"Do you think it's right?"

"Do you?"

"Emma, seriously, I need advice. I do like him, I'm just scared I'm… complicated."

"He knows," Emma said with a little smile, "I think it's right, but you'll make the call."

"Okay…"

"Junior Prom is coming up. Why don't you ask him?"

"Me ask him?" Emma nodded her head. Gia sighed, "Now I'm nervous."

"You'll be fine."


	133. For Your Daughter

Over the lunch period, Jake was on the soccer field practicing. Gia sat on the bleachers watching. Noah was in the science working on an experiment, and Troy and Emma were with Ms. Chesterfield to work on new projects for the eco-club. Emma didn't want to leave the building, worried she would have to come face to face with her father. She didn't want to talk to him –not alone.

Gia saw Jake running up and down the field with the soccer ball and smiled to herself. It had been a long time since Cliff, and though she still had some scars, she was starting to feel better. She had the support of her family and friends, and was slowly starting to look into things that would make her feel normal again. She did have the occasional slip, but she wasn't scared anymore. Not like before.

Jake had been a big part of her recovery. He was the first guy she had let in, and he hadn't disappointed her. If anything, he had pleasantly surprised her with his commitment and patience. Unlike the other guys who asked her out, Jake liked her for who she was and not because she was the hottest girl in school. He was honest with her, gentle with her, and selfless, and he took the extra step to make her feel special. Gia did like him, she knew she did, but now she wanted more. It terrified her to think of going on a real date, or starting a real relationship again, but unless she wanted to be alone forever, she was going to have to take the chance.

She felt safe with Jake and so he was a good place to start. She saw him walking over to grab his water and joined him on the bench. Though she had been on the receiving end many times, she couldn't figure out how to phrase her request.

"What's up?" he asked her with a smile, seeing she looked like she had something to say. "Is everything okay?"

Gia nodded her head, "Well… yeah. Aside from Emma's dad…"

"Don't worry about that. Nothing's going to happen."

"I hope," Gia sighed. She bit her lip. Jake could tell she was nervous. He sat down on the bench and invited her to do the same.

"We can talk about anything, you know."

"Well… um… junior… junior prom is coming up and… I wanted to… I want to go."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Jake asked. Gia nodded her head.

"As… as my date? Will you go to prom with me?"

Jake smiled, "Yes."

"Really?"

Jake chuckled and smiled, "Gia, that's been my dream for a few years now. What did you think I was going to say?"

"I was just nervous."

"You have nothing to be nervous about," Jake told her. "It'll be a special night, I promise."

Jake couldn't stop smiling as he took in a deep breath, "Wow… is this really happening to me? The girl of my dreams just asked me to go to prom with her."

"Jake…"

"Seriously, this is going to be an amazing night," Jake promised Gia and then he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "We're going to have fun. You don't have to worry about a thing. I'll take care of all of it."

-Megaforce-

Emma stuffed her binder in her bag. She, Troy, and Ms. Chesterfield had come up with more ideas on how to make the school a little more green, and Emma was going to do some research before the school got started on the newest project. Things were coming along slowly, but at least they were moving ahead.

Troy had stepped out to go to his locker, leaving just Emma in the classroom. Just as she managed to fit her binder insider her bag, she heard a knock on the door. She turned and recognized Dr. Oliver. She frowned at the older man. Though Gia was thankful he had run into her with his car and caused a scene, Emma still wasn't happy. All she could hear was that a man had been careless enough to run into her best friend with a car.

"I came in to apologize," he said. "Do you know where Gia is?"

"No," Emma shook her head and bumped shoulders with Dr. Oliver as she walked out of the classroom. He followed her down the hall.

"Gia ran before I could do anything. I just wanted to make sure she was okay."

"You hit her with a car. What do you think?"

"Is she okay?"

At that very moment, Gia and Jake walked into the school and both looked very happy. Jake went to his locker across the hall to gather up his things while Gia walked over to Emma. She looked like she wanted to say something, but then she noticed Dr. Oliver. He let out a relieved sigh.

"You're okay?"

"Yeah," Gia nodded her head, "About last night…"

"I'm really sorry…"

"Thank you," Gia said. "I couldn't get that guy to stop following me."

"Is everything okay? If you need any help, it's the least I can do…"

"Everything's fine," Gia said and then turned to Emma. She could see her best friend wasn't happy and gave her a little nudge, "Emma, seriously, it was an accident."

"Whatever," Emma closed her locker.

Jake came over and looked to Dr. Oliver. He knew a little bit of the story, and so apologized for Emma to Dr. Oliver.

"The girls get a little protective of each other," he said. "Just be glad you didn't hit Emma with your car. Gia hits harder."

"Jake Holling?" Dr. Oliver smiled as he held out a hand. He recognized Jake from Conner's soccer games, but more importantly he would never forget the face of a fellow Ranger. When Conner called him to talk about his suspicions, how he was sure his newest soccer player was one of the newest Rangers, Dr. Oliver had to look into it. It was the reason he had moved all the way out to Harwood County and the reason he wanted a job at the school. He knew the current team was still young enough to be in high school, and thought getting a position in the school would be the easiest way to get close to them.

"What did I do now?" Jake groaned, assuming a new teacher only knew his name because he had been talked about. "I swear, it wasn't me this time."

"No, it's nothing like that," Dr. Oliver smiled, "Actually, I'm a friend of your coach. Coach McKnight."

"You two know each other?" Gia asked.

"Sort of. Jake's all Conner can talk about. He's really glad to have you on his team. Me, not so much."

"Why not?" Jake asked.

"I come from Angel Grove and Reefside. You're the reason both my teams lost against Harwood County."

"What can I say," Jake teased, "I'm just awesome that way."

"I can't say he's missing an ego," Gia muttered to Emma, who rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Class is going to start again soon. We should go. C'mon, Jake."

"But I'm…"

"Come on!"

-Megaforce-

Mr. Moran sat at his desk at work, doing his best to stay awake and get as much work done as he could. He hadn't slept very well the night before, not after hearing his best friend had gone after his daughter, and she had gotten hit by a car trying to get away from him. Everything ended up fine and Gia and Emma were both well looked after by the Burrows, but Mr. Moran couldn't stop himself from worrying.

It was lunch time, so most of the office was gone. Mr. Moran would have to work through lunch to get the day's work done, but he didn't mind. The more time he spent off the streets, the less likely he was to run into Jeff. As it turned out, Mr. Goodall was still very angry, and would need a few days still to calm down. Mr. Moran wanted to avoid another confrontation.

Unfortunately for him, the elevator doors opened and Mr. Goodall stepped out. Mr. Moran sighed. He stood up from his chair.

"Jeffrey…"

"It's not what it looks like," Mr. Goodall said. "Whatever Gia told you…"

"Leave her out of this," Mr. Moran growled. "Gia's got nothing to do with any of this. You had no right to follow her around like that."

"So, you can threaten to take my daughter away from me, but I can't even talk to yours?"

"Jeffrey…"

"No! This is bullshit! You can't do this to me!"

"I'm not trying to keep you two apart. Emma's not going to be happy in New York, and I doubt you're ready to quit your job…"

"I signed a contract."

"Just let her stay here. She'll stay with us. You've got to know we'll take good care of her."

"You want me to sign my daughter over to you? You want me to give up all my rights as her father! Joe, do you hear yourself? I would never, ever do that to you."

"Jeffrey, I know this is hard to understand, but…"

"Hard to understand?" Mr. Goodall shouted. "Of course it's hard to understand! I've got no idea what you're thinking! Emma's my daughter! I've never done anything to justify losing her! Not like this!"

"Jeffrey, imagine the roles were reversed. If I moved out to New York and left Gia behind…"

"What if you imagined the roles being reversed?" Mr. Goodall growled. "What I were to just snatch your daughter away from you? How would you feel?"

"If the roles were reversed, I'd want you to take my daughter from me," Mr. Moran said, surprising his best friend. "Jeff, Gia's precious to me…"

"And Emma's not precious to me?"

"I want the best for her, even if that isn't me. Don't you want that for Emma too? Don't you want her to be happy and…"

"You seriously think you would be happy if I kidnapped your daughter…"

"I'm not kidnapping her."

"You would want me to take Gia?"

"If you thought I was doing a bad job as a father, yes."

"Don't hold back," Mr. Goodall rolled his eyes, "but alright, whatever you say."

"So you understand?"

Mr. Goodall didn't answer. He walked to the elevator and waited for the doors to open. Mr. Moran followed him.

"Jeffrey, you know this hurts me too, right? I don't want to do this, but I have to. I'm only thinking about Emma and what's best for her."

"I don't want to do this either," Mr. Goodall said. The elevator door opened. Mr. Moran grabbed his arm before he could walk in.

"Jeffrey, just take some time to calm down. I'm going to let you talk to Emma…"

"You're going to have to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mr. Moran asked. Mr. Goodall stepped into the elevator and shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess we'll see."


	134. Quick Thinking

Jake couldn't contain his excitement and barely had it in him to keep the news quiet until the end of the school day. When the bell rang and Ms. Chesterfield dismissed the students, Jake turned around and smiled at Noah. The grin said it all.

"Gia?"

"You'll never believe what happened," Jake nodded his head. He glanced across the room, seeing Emma and Gia were leaving. Troy leaned over to take part in the conversation.

"What?"

"Junior prom is coming up," Jake said to both boys, "And I thought maybe I'd ask Gia last minute, you know, so that it's not a big deal or anything, but today she asked me."

Jake looked like a little boy on Christmas morning, which made Troy and Noah look to each other and chuckle. This was a big moment for the black Ranger, who had been crushing madly on Gia since he first laid eyes on her. Now, not only was he going to prom with Gia Moran, the hottest girl in school and the girl of his dreams, but she had asked him.

"Good for you, Jake," Noah gave his best friend a pat on the shoulder. Troy nodded in support.

"Good for Gia, too."

"You two have to help me plan something big," Jake looked at both boys pleadingly, "You both know how big a deal this is and I really want to show Gia that she made the right choice trusting me, well, trusting all of us. Any tips?"

"Yeah, your first tip is to not take dating advice from me," Noah chuckled. "Do the opposite of what I say."

"Girls like chocolate and flowers, but they prefer effort," Troy said to Jake. "Just do something to make the night unforgettable and it'll be the best night of her life."

"Like what?" Jake asked.

"You've got a few weeks to figure that out," Noah smirked.

Jake nodded his head. He was still stuck for what to do. He had promised Gia a good night and planned on delivering, but he had no idea what to do. Still, nothing could dull his excitement. He grabbed his bag from the bag of his chair and hurried off home to share the news with his father. Troy and Noah exchanged glances one more time before shaking their heads and laughing.

"I am happy for him, but we all saw that one coming," Noah said.

"It's a big step though," Troy said. "I thought they would be dating for senior prom. I guess that kind of makes us third, fourth, and fifth wheels."

"What do you mean?"

"You're not dating, I haven't really met anyone, and Emma's still getting over Jordan. I don't think we'll have dates to prom."

"You plan on going?"

"It would make my mom happy. In spite of the drama it brought, she was thrilled that Emma and Gia spent the night. You know this friendship thing doesn't come easy to me."

"Do you think Emma's going to want to go?"

"I guess once she finds out Gia and Jake are going together, she'll want to stay close just in case," Troy nodded his head. "You know how those two get."

"I guess that means I should go," Noah sighed. "Great, another day where I get to sit in the corner of the gym and feel like I'm out of place."

"Well… what if we go?"

"Um, Troy, I'm not…"

"With Emma," Tory rolled his eyes. "What if we both asked her to prom as friends? That way we're not alone."

"Wouldn't that be… weird?"

"Weirder than standing in a corner all night watching Jake and Gia?"

"We'll ask her," Noah sighed.

-Megaforce-

"So, did you do it?" Emma asked as she stepped into Ernie's with Gia for an after school smoothie. Gia's father had promised to pick them up as soon as he got off work.

Gia sat at the bar, nodded her head, and bit her lip, "Yeah…"

"And?"

"We're going to prom."

Emma threw her arms around her best friend, "See? It's working out!"

"I'm kind of freaking out about it."

"It's okay," Emma smiled. "You'll get over that. Your last boyfriend was an asshole."

Gia nodded and let out a sigh. Ernie brought over their usual. Gia played with her straw.

"Jake's great and… I do trust him. It's just… I can't stop thinking something bad is going to happen, you know. Like how something bad happened to Cliff."

"Nothing's going to happen. You just need to dive in. And I'll be there, you know I will."

"Yeah… maybe once this sinks in a little more, I'll feel better."

"Maybe once we go dress shopping?"

"Emma…"

"I'm not letting you wear boots and a jacket to prom," Emma shook her head; "I'm taking you out dress shopping. Dress shopping, shoe shopping, and you'll need accessories."

"Am I too young to get a cat?"

"You might like it."

Gia stuck out her tongue and pretended to gag. Emma chuckled as she shook her head and started to drink her smoothie. The bell over Ernie's door dinged as a new customer walked in. Emma was looking over the bar to see if Ernie had something good for her to eat while she waited for Mr. Moran to pick her up. Gia glanced over to the door to see who was joining. She grabbed Emma's arm suddenly.

"We have to go," she reached into her bag, pulled out her wallet and put twenty dollars on the bar for Ernie and pulled Emma from her stool. They left using the back door, and Gia peeked around the corner of the building to see if the way was clear.

"What happened?"

"Your dad's everywhere," Gia whispered. "In school, on the street, at Ernie's."

"Maybe I should just talk to him now. Tell him the deal."

"Troy's not here," Gia turned to Emma, "You said you wanted us there."

"Yeah, but if talking to him now will keep you from getting hit by another car, I'd rather just get it over with," Emma opened the back door, "Let's just go back inside, we can sit down at the bar and tell him what's up. Maybe if he hears it from me, it won't sound as bad."

Gia groaned loudly, but followed Emma back inside the building. They saw Mr. Goodall standing at the bar, talking to Ernie who was gesturing to the girl's seats in confusion.

"They were just here," Ernie had a quick look around before spotting the girls and smiling, "Ah, there they went."

"Emma!" Mr. Goodall held out his arms as he walked over to his daughter for a hug. Emma accepted the embrace very awkwardly and took a seat on the stool. Gia sat to her left while her father took the spot to her right. "How have you been?"

"Better," Emma answered honestly. She took back her smoothie and sighed, "Dad, I know why you're here."

"Emma, what happened was a misunderstanding…"

"I want to stay here," she thought it best not to beat around the bush, "I want you to sign the papers. College is only a few months away anyways, and then I can do whatever I want."

Mr. Goodall made a fist but he kept his hands on the table, "Emma, sweetie, let me explain what happened…"

"Don't bother. No matter what you say, it ends with you leaving me behind."

"I didn't…"

"Dad, I'm not stupid. Business trips, meetings, long vacations and never taking me along… did you even want to have a kid?"

"I love you, Emma. Of course I want you…"

"I feel special when I'm with the Morans," Emma said. "I feel like I'm part of a family, and that the people looking out for me actually care about what happens to me. I'm happy, dad, and I'm doing so much better now."

"You don't think I care about you, Emma? I thought your mother took you on her trip. That's why I didn't check up on you. When the lawyers called… I couldn't believe it. Emma, this isn't my fault."

"Even if it wasn't, every other time was."

"Every…"

"The Morans treat me like one of their own, and the more time I spent with them, the more I realized that being a part of their family was always… that's who I am."

"You are a Goodall…"

"By name. Dad, I'm not saying I don't still want you in my life… I just… I want to stay here. I want to stay here with Gia and Vanessa and Joe. Please, dad, you have to understand."

"I can't let them take my daughter," Mr. Goodall shook his head and reached into his jacket. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at the girls. The customers, when they noticed the gun, screamed and started to run from the building. Ernie wanted to reach for the phone, but Mr. Goodall shook his head.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Emma screamed and she noticed the gun was pointed directly at Gia. Finally realizing Gia's discomfort around her father wasn't paranoia; Emma placed herself between her best friend and her father to act as a shield. "Dad, don't do this."

"Move it, Emma. I don't want to hurt you. If the Morans think they can take you away from me…"

"You're going to kill Gia? Dad, stop!"

"Mr. Goodall, think about this," Gia said, "Just stop and think for a minute what this is going to cost you. Obviously, I'm not your biggest fan right now, but Emma was talking about keeping you in her life. If you pull that trigger, then it doesn't matter where that bullet goes. You're never seeing her again."

"Then I have nothing to lose. Get out of my way, Emma," Mr. Goodall reached out to grab his daughter and move her. Emma stepped backwards, pushing Gia back with her.

"Alright… okay, fine, dad, I'll go back to New York with you. I'll do whatever you want, just put the gun away."

"Move, Emma. My mind is made up."

"Please, dad…. Please, don't do this," Emma pleaded. Mr. Goodall lowered the gun slightly, to which Gia responded by pushing Emma out of the way and quickly grabbing Mr. Goodall's wrist. His gun fired once, but missed everything but the wall behind the bar. Mr. Goodall was startled by the gun shot, and then he received a punch to the chest. He stumbled backwards before being hit again, this time by a boot. He tripped over the barstool, the gun fired again, then dropped from his hand. Gia picked it up and pointed it at Mr. Goodall.

"Ernie," she said as he rushed over to grab a phone, though he was certain one of his customers had already called the police, he needed to be sure they were on their way.

Mr. Goodall lay on his back on the ground, with his hands up. He looked desperately at Gia, terrified of whatever she was going to do. He had known her since the day she was born, and though she seemed to be made of stone, deep down she was soft.

However, he didn't doubt she would pull the trigger. She was her father's daughter. She cared for Emma, and just like her father, she would do anything to protect the people she cared about.

"I'm sorry," he said desperately. Gia looked at him and heard sirens in the distance. Police were coming. Surely her parents wouldn't be far behind. She lowered her arms and nodded her head in the direction of the door.

"Sounds like they're just a couple of blocks away. They'll take care of you."

Gia set the gun on the counter. Mr. Goodall got up hesitantly before he started to run. Gia watched him go and then turned to Emma, "I'm sorry…"

Emma shook her head, threw herself at Gia, and then sobbed into her shoulder.


	135. Aftershot

Her father had a gun. A gun had been pointed at Gia. Her body had been a bullet proof vest.

Those were the three thoughts running through Emma's head as she sat on the couch back at home. A blanket was wrapped around her gently for comfort. Those three thoughts and the blanket were all Emma could remember of the day.

"It's going to be okay," Gia whispered as she hugged her. Emma didn't react. Her father had a gun.

From the living room, Gia could hear her parents screaming at each other. It was just panic because of what had happened, Gia was sure of that much, but it still wasn't what she wanted to hear. Gia was sure Emma didn't want to hear it either. They were arguing over her father, and over what they were going to do now. Mr. Goodall had been caught as soon as he left Ernie's Brainfreeze, and the security tapes showed him pulling out a gun on the girls. There was nothing he could say to get himself out of trouble. He had lost. Emma would get to stay with the Morans, but that was no comfort to anyone.

Gia gave Emma a little comforting squeeze, "No one got hurt, Emma. It's not the best case scenario, but it's still better. You're okay, I'm okay… it's going to be okay."

Emma still didn't react. A gun had been pointed at Gia.

"Please don't do this," Gia grabbed Emma's arms and looked straight at her best friend. "If the roles were reversed, you wouldn't want me to keep everything locked up inside. Scream, cry, yell, or do a happy dance. Whatever, Emma, just don't bottle it up. It's going to be okay."

This time, Emma shook her head. She had been in danger before, but never like this. Her body had been a bullet proof vest because her father had a gun, which he had pointed at Gia. Her body had been a bullet proof vest because her father had a gun and he was going to use it to shoot Gia. Her body had been a bullet proof vest because her father had a gun, and the only thing that kept him from shooting Gia was her body between her father and her best friend.

"Yes, it is," Gia told Emma. "I'm sorry, Emma, I'm really, really sorry, but… I'm just sorry."

Over in the den, Mr. Moran paced back and forth while his wife sat on the couch. Their shouting match had just come to an end, and neither had anything more they wanted to say. There was nothing to say. Without question, Emma could stay with them until she was ready to go off to college. Without question they would care for her like she was their own daughter. It had been what they always wanted. However, they never wanted it to come at this price.

For Mrs. Moran, it was fear. Mr. Goodall was out of her life, but the cost had nearly been her daughter. The thought of losing her daughter, or Gia getting hurt, just so Mrs. Moran and her husband could get full custody of Emma was not a deal Mrs. Moran would ever make, and she was furious with her husband for letting things get this far. He had promised he could take care of Mr. Goodall. He had promised everything would be okay.

For Mr. Moran, the price was confusion and loss. Mr. Goodall was a good man, though he hadn't proven that tonight. Mr. Moran had known Mr. Goodall his entire life, and though being angry did sometimes make Mr. Goodall do stupid things, Mr. Moran never imagined he would do this. Mr. Goodall wasn't the man he knew. Now, there was no doubt Emma would be traumatized by what had happened, Gia, though she wasn't showing, was likely just as scared, his wife was angry, his best friend was lost and in jail, and Mr. Moran had almost let his family down.

"Vanessa…"

"I don't want to hear it, Joe."

"I couldn't have seen this coming," he sat down beside his wife. "I thought the worst that could happen was a messy custody battle. One that we risked losing. That's it."

"I said, I don't want to hear it, Joe," she gave her husband a harsh glare, "This battle almost cost us our daughter, do you understand that? Had Emma not stood in the way…"

"Vanessa, I know, and if I had known that before…"

"What would you have done? Thrown Emma into his hands? Let her go off with a man who had it in him to point a gun at our daughter!"

"Of course not! Vanessa, what do you want me to say? I had no control over this."

"You promised me you did. You said you could handle it. Is this your way of handling it?"

"Vanessa, I…"

"I'm going to bed," Vanessa got up with a shake of her head and stormed out. She crossed the house and found the girls hugging each other tightly on the couch. "We should get some sleep."

She wrapped her arms around Emma as she helped her up. Gia insisted she would be upstairs soon. Vanessa didn't seem sure, but started for the stairs with Emma.

Gia walked to the den and saw her father on the couch. He looked up at her.

"Are you okay?"

Gia nodded her head, then crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe, "Dad…"

"I'm sorry. I never meant for you to get caught up in the middle of this."

"It's not your fault he turned into a psycho."

"Gia…"

"I'm worried about Emma," Gia said. She looked to her father sadly, "I've not liked Mr. Goodall for a while, I'm sorry to say, and I still kind of assume the worst of people. I'm okay. Emma's… not."

"This is a lot for her," Mr. Moran nodded his head. "You'll need patience, Gia."

"I want to help her, dad. I…"

"You will," Mr. Moran promised. "Go to bed."

Gia nodded her head and raced up the stairs.


	136. Helping Emma

"I looked it up," Noah handed Gia a sheet of paper; "I thought it might help."

Gia read over the paper and smiled, "Thanks, Noah, I'll try it…"

"But…?" Noah could see Gia was starting to lose hope. It had been almost a week since Emma's father had pulled a gun on her, and Emma refused to leave the house. Gia knew Noah couldn't be fooled.

"I don't think the butterflies are going to be convincing enough," she sighed and shook her head. "She's really shaken up."

"Hey," Jake walked down the halls of the school with Troy, "Any news on Emma?"

"She won't ride," Gia shook her head sadly, "I took her bike out to the woods the other day and took pictures for her, to remind her of what she was missing, but she barely even looked at the pictures."

"Well, the new made the incident seem pretty bad," Troy said. "I couldn't imagine actually being there."

Gia sighed, "It was hard. I imagine it being my dad instead of Mr. Goodall and yeah, I'd be pretty freaked out too."

"Security tapes show you taking that bastard down like a real badass, though," Jake smiled.

"And I'm sure that freaked Emma out too. I had to take the gun. I didn't trust it just lying there, and I certainly wouldn't trust it in Mr. Goodall's hands. Then when I took it, I knew it had to point it at him or he wouldn't take me seriously. It's bad enough Emma saw her dad point a gun at us… I had to…"

"You did what you had to do," Troy reassured Gia with a soft hand on her shoulder, "I'm sure Emma understands that. Mr. Goodall threatened you, and it's not like he lowered the gun when Emma was standing in the way. You had to do it. You saved yourself, you saved Emma, you saved Ernie, and you saved Mr. Goodall from doing something he would really regret."

"You shouldn't feel bad," Jake said with a smile as he took Gia's hand. "Emma's going to come around. Just keep trying."

"It's hard," Gia sighed.

"We're going to help," Noah promised and looked to the others to see he had their support, "And besides, Emma hasn't given up on you in two years."

Gia took in a deep breath and nodded her head, "I'll figure this out."

"Try taking her to see the butterflies," Noah said, "And don't force her to talk."

"When she's ready, she'll let you know," Troy added. Gia sighed again, looked down at the paper Noah had given her, and nodded.

"It's worth a shot."

The bell rang for the start of class. Gia grabbed her bag, and then Emma's bag. She had been bringing home schoolwork for Emma so she wouldn't fall behind in her classes. Ms. Chesterfield had insisted Emma do some work. Fortunately, the pink Ranger didn't seem to mind the homework, and had completed it every night so far.

"Here, let me carry that," Jake took Emma's bag from Gia and then smiled. Gia smiled back at him and took his hand.

"Thanks."

-Megaforce-

"Emma? Emma, what are you doing?" Mrs. Moran asked as she walked by the upstairs hallway. She had been collecting the laundry from the bedrooms when she saw Emma's door open and the pink Ranger was making a mess of her room. Mrs. Moran didn't mind the extra chores like cooking, cleaning, and the laundry now that she was a housewife, as it kept her days busy, but that didn't give the girls an excuse to purposely make a mess.

"All this stuff is dad's," Emma pointed to the pile on her floor. "I don't want it anymore."

"Emma, this is your stuff…"

"No. He bought this with his…"

"It's not poison," Mrs. Moran set the laundry basket down and shook her head, "Emma, _this_ is ridiculous."

"I don't want his stuff. I don't want anything that reminds me of him. He's an idiot."

"Emma…"

"He is!" Emma screamed. She grabbed the clothes from her closet and dumped them all in the pile. "What… what did he think was going to happen? When he shot Gia, did he think… did he think that would fix everything?"

"Your father wasn't trying to hurt you, Emma. He wasn't thinking clearly. He wanted to hurt Joe."

"But what did he think was going to happen? He could have killed Gia. He's going to jail for that, for sure, and then I'll never see him. Mom's already given me up, and Gia could have been dead! Jordan's gone, that would be everyone."

"Gia isn't dead."

"And that's all you can say," Emma shook her head and wiped away the tears, "That's it, Vanessa. Just Gia. He pointed a gun at her and…"

"Nothing happened."

"But what if something had? Then what would happen to me?"

Mrs. Moran gently grabbed Emma's arm and walked her to the bed. They sat down, and Mrs. Moran hugged Emma.

"We would mourn together."

"You'd hate me. Dad wanted me, so he killed Gia. I'd be the reason she's dead. You wouldn't want me. Joe wouldn't want me. Mom doesn't want me. Dad would be in prison…"

"Emma…"

"The only person who wants me murdered my best friend."

"That's not true," Mrs. Moran shook her head. "I'm thankful nothing happened at the Brainfreeze. I couldn't imagine what I'd do if something happened to Gia, or to you."

"You're just…"

"I'm not," Mrs. Moran said. "Emma, I love you with all my heart. No matter what your father does to Gia, to me, or to Joe, I would never turn my back on you. Neither would Joe."

"But…"

"No matter what you do, Emma, I would never turn my back on you," Mrs. Moran added and squeezed Emma lovingly, "It's called unconditional love. It means, no matter what you do, no matter what happens I will always love you."

"How can you? I can't get my parents or my boyfriend to love me. The people who are supposed to want the best for me shoot at the only thing that is good for me."

"Gia?"

Emma sighed, "I was so scared. I… I thought dad was going to do it. I thought he would find a way around me and just go crazy. At the time, it didn't even occur to me that he had the gun pointed at me. My dad had a gun, he had the gun pointed at Gia, and when I stepped in his way, he kept the gun pointed at me."

"Your father was badly hurt," Mrs. Moran said as she kept her arms around Emma. "I've never seen him so angry and upset. Loosing you is the worst thing that has happened to him and I don't blame him for his anger."

"You don't?"

"I'd probably point a gun at whoever wanted to take Gia or you from me," Mrs. Moran said. "But your father… he crossed a line, and not just for what he wanted to do. Already, that's unforgivable. But what he did, the pain it caused you, he's lucky _I_ don't have a gun in my hands. I'd be glad if I never heard from him again."

"Me… me too," Emma sighed. She leaned into Mrs. Moran, "Even though I don't like it."

"We can start over," Mrs. Moran smiled. "Your mother's given you to us, and your father's losing his rights while he's locked away, so now it's just the four of us. Nothing's going to threaten that."

"Except the monsters invading the city."

"Yeah," Mrs. Moran sighed as she was reminded of her daughters' secret jobs, "But I mean, in regards to things we can control, we are a family now, nothing's tearing us apart."

"Yeah."

"Can we be happy for that? Can we be happy that the four of us are all okay and healthy and together?"

Emma nodded and smiled, "Yeah."

"Good. Do you still want to donate those clothes, or have you decided to keep them and everything else in that pile?"

Emma looked at the pile and started to laugh, "I guess I can keep them."

"Okay, good. If we had to drag Gia on another shopping trip, she'd probably shoot herself," Mrs. Moran teased. "Clean up this mess, and then join me downstairs. I think a big family dinner is in order, and I'll need help."

"Why, what are we having?"

"A house favourite: homemade pizza. We'll need to get started on the dough soon, so it's ready when Joe and Gia come home."

"I'll be right down, I promise," Emma said as she starting sorting through her pile. Mrs. Moran picked up the laundry basket and stepped out of the room. As she walked down stairs to the laundry room, she breathed out a sigh of relief.


	137. Screaming Carrots

Ms. Chesterfield walked around the classroom, looking over the Rangers as they worked. She had been teaching them for some time now, giving them the extra attention and personalized lessons they needed to keep on top of their work. It was her alternative to failling them. She knew the five teens were good kids, and they meant well. She couldn't stop herself from looking out for them.

"Excellent, Gia," she smiled, looking over Gia's shoulder. Gia was the biggest mystery of the bunch. As far as Ms. Chesterfield was concerned, she had the most going against her, and yet her education hadn't taken a single hit. It was amazing what she could absorb, retain, and put into practice. Ms. Chesterfield was finding it hard to come up with worksheets and lessons that could truly challenge her.

Noah was a similar mystery. Though his grades had taken a hit recently, he was still, by far, one of the smartest students in school. He and Gia were at the very top and this was another reason Ms. Chesterfield didn't want to see the group of five falling through the cracks. They all had amazing potential, and with a little help staying on track, they could move on to do amazing things. Noah, Ms. Chesterfield was certain, would be the man to find the cure to cancer.

Jake was going to be great in soccer, whether he chose to follow his dream of playing professionally, or settled down as a coach. He had the skills, the charm, and could encourage a room full of pessimists to look on the bright side. He had a natural charisma that made even the toughest of people crack a smile.

And Troy, well, he was a natural born leader. He wasn't the smartest, or the strongest, or the fastest, or the most popular, but he had confidence in himself and instilled confidence in the people around him. No matter where he found himself in life, he was going to succeed; she had no doubt about that.

The school bell rang, marking the end of the day. Ms. Chesterfield collected all the papers with a big smile.

"We will continue tomorrow. Have a great afternoon. Miss Moran…"

"I don't know about Emma," Gia shook her head. "She's still taking the whole thing pretty hard."

"Be sure you go over this with her," Ms. Chesterfield gave Gia Emma's homework for the night. "She'll need know it by next week. You will all be tested on it."

Gia nodded her head, put the papers in her bag and then walked down the hall to her locker. She barely had time to make it before she heard her morpher beep. She let out a sigh as the boys raced past her.

"It's been a while," Jake called to her. Gia nodded her head and followed them out.

-Megaforce-

Emma rolled out the dough while Mrs. Moran got all the ingredients they were going to need to create everyone's perfect pizza. Emma was fighting with her second piece, trying to get the dough to at least resemble a circular shape, when she heard her morpher beep. She looked up, and then she looked to Mrs. Moran.

"Duty calls, right?"

"Unfortunately," Emma nodded her head and ran to her bag. She pulled out her morpher, "Emma."

"Mutant in the plaza," Gia said. "Are you coming?"

Emma looked over her shoulder at Mrs. Moran and then nodded her head, "Yeah."

"What are you doing to tell mom?"

"I'm going for a ride to clear my head," Emma said, "Don't worry, Gia, I've got it covered. I'll be there."

Emma clipped her morpher to her shorts and then looked to Mrs. Moran, "I've got to go. I can't let my team down."

"No, you can't," Mrs. Moran said. "Leave the back way. And be careful!"

Emma raced out of the house and took her bike so her trip would be faster. She couldn't be late and risk the others getting hurt, and she had promised to show. She stuck to the back roads so no one would see her riding into the battlefield. When she was close enough, she tucked her bike away, morphed, and followed the sounds of the fight. As she reached the plaza, she saw her friends were already there with Robo-Knight. Troy noticed her first, and broke away to help her get caught up on what was happening.

"You're just in time. This guy's tough."

"He looks like a rabbit," Emma summoned her Phoenix Shot. "How tough can he be?"

Her question was answered as the mutant came towards her and Troy, seeing they were distracted and he decided to take his chance. He was stopped, however, when Robo-Knight tackled him, knocking him forcefully to the ground.

"Let's just say, I'm _really _glad Robo-Knight is here," Troy said. Emma looked to the battle and nodded her head in agreement.

"That's one tough bunny."

"Be careful of his carrots," Troy warned her. "He'll throw them at you. We've got no idea what they do, but he's been threatening us with them, so…"

"Watch out!" seeing he carrots Troy was warning her about, Emma lifted her Phoenix Shot and blasted them before they could reach her and Troy. Without the need for anymore warning, she launched herself into the battle. If Troy considered this mutant to be a threat, then it was going to take effort from everybody to stop him once and for all.

Emma fell into place with Troy, fighting side by side with him. She couldn't explain why, but in battle, if she couldn't fight with Gia, she felt safest with Troy. They were both the holders of the Sky Cards, and so were teammates on some level, but Gosei had never really explained it. Still, Emma wouldn't complain. Knowing she had help meant it was easier to fight the battles. She could take a few more risks with Gia and Troy watching her back.

Robo-Knight was first to be hit by one of the rabbit's carrots as he tried to take the mutant down with his fists. Robo-Knight, though he was an amazing fighter, and he could be counted on to defeat the mutants and aliens practically on his own, he was very reckless, and didn't think his plans through too much. The carrot exploded as it touched his armour and sent the robot flying back several miles until he crashed through the window of a nearby shop.

"Well, if that's not a reason to stop eating vegetables," Jake chuckled, seeing the robot soar off, knowing he would be okay. It was an advantage Robo-Knight had that the Rangers didn't. He was a robot and so he couldn't be killed. If he did suffer great damage, he could be repaired. "I don't know what is."

Joking around cost Jake big time. The rabbit moved quickly between his opponents, and after sending Robo-Knight away, he turned to his next target. The black Ranger had taken his eyes off the fight for a moment and so wouldn't see the attack coming.

"Pay attention you idio – AH!" Gia pushed her teammate out of the way, only to be hit by the carrot meant for Jake. She flew back into an outdoor patio set just outside a café. She broke the table in half as she landed.

"Gia!" Jake cried, seeing her fly off. It made his blood boil. He clenched his fists tightly and turned back to the rabbit. Only, before he could do anything, another carrot struck him in the helmet. It exploded in his face, causing him to fly back and join Gia on the broken patio furniture, and power down.

"Three down, three to go!" the rabbit smiled. He sensed the red Ranger coming up behind him and leaped out of the way, taking down Robo-Knight once more, who had just recovered, and then shoot a carrot at Emma, who had gone to see if Jake and Gia were okay.

"And that makes four!" the rabbit smiled. He turned to the two remaining Rangers, "You two are lucky, I'm out of carrots. But I'll be back!"

"You're not going anywhere!" Troy shouted as he raced towards the rabbit. Noah held up his Bowgun and fired a round, but it was too late. The rabbit bounced off.

Robo-Knight picked himself up again and shook off the debris. He had a look around, but seeing the mutant wasn't in sight, he took off to recover some more. Noah watched him leave with a shake of his head.

"I really wish that conscience chip would have worked on him instead of Jordan."

"Yeah, me too," Troy nodded and he turned to the café, "We should check up the on the others."

Noah agreed and followed his leader to the patio. They stepped over the broken chairs and tables. Noah found Jake unconscious and gently lifted him up. Just then, he heard a loud scream. He turned around, seeing Troy struggling to pull what seemed to be a very, very frantic Emma away from Gia.

"What's going on?" Noah asked. Troy managed to pry Emma's hands from Gia's arms, which stopped the pink Ranger from shaking her best friend madly, and he pulled her up in his arms. Emma continued to scream. Gia grabbed her head and slowly got to her feet.

"She screams like a banshee. We should head back to the base. I can't take her home like that."

"Are you okay?" Noah asked as he came over with an unconscious Jake hanging loosely beside him.

"A little… off," Gia said, "But exploding carrots will do that to you."

At that moment, Troy lost his grip on Emma. She darted away from him and towards Gia. In one swift movement, she tackled her best friend to the ground, and then held her in her arms.

"Gia, don't do this to me!"

Gia pushed Emma away, "I'm not doing anything! You're the one playing football."

"No, no, Gia, please, you can't… you can't leave me like this!" Emma was crying at this point, her face flooded with tears as her grip on Gia tightened and she screamed desperately. "Say something, Gia!"

"Get off me!" Gia tried to push her away again, but Emma wouldn't let go. She pulled Gia closer to her chest and hugged her tightly. Her sobs were both heart retching and confusing.

"Something's not right," Noah said to Troy and then looked to Gia, "It might be the carrot. Are you sure…"

"I'm fine," Gia insisted. "Can someone.. oof… get her off of me?"

Troy grabbed Emma and forcefully pulled her away. Emma let out another scream and tried to run back to Gia, but this time Troy wouldn't let go. Gia took out her morpher and sighed.

"Gosei, bring us back. We've got a lot of questions."


	138. Fear

_Author's Note: (Most of you can skip this) So, I think I've done a good job with updates. Of course, I'm not going to go into detail with my personal life, because it doesn't belong on the internet. Still, I manage to update on average once, and sometimes even twice a day. In fact, this story is 95 days old (including today), and I've got 138 chapters (this one included)._

_And, you know, writing up chapters, making sure everything works with the storyline I want, revising my work, that takes up a lot of time. And time is money, right? Do I get any money for this work? My bank account doesn't seem to think so, but I'll have to double check… nope. That's too bad; I could use the money._

_Still, I think I'll keep writing. It's my passion; I love it. And I think I'll keep updating, because there are other people out there who seem to enjoy my passion and they want to share it with me. And I want to share my passion with those people, with you guys, my readers._

_I do get something out of this, though. I get reviews. Great reviews! I've got some really awesome loyal reviewers who take time out of their busy lives to read my work and leave a review to tell me how I've done._ _You guys are awesome, and there's a gift for you at the end of the chapter._

_I know I didn't update yesterday. I had a pretty busy day dealing with work, family, and taking time to myself. And I'm not going to apologize for missing one day. I'm just going to update today and hope you all enjoy._

By the time the Rangers got back to the base, Emma was sobbing hysterically. She continued to lunge for Gia, and fought aggressively to hold her best friend tight. Gosei suggested she be restrained so the Rangers wouldn't wear themselves out keeping her from suffocating Gia. The yellow Ranger didn't like the idea, but knew no harm would come to Emma. It was for everyone's safety.

Then, Jake woke up and made a break for it. In a hysterical panic, he tried to run for the door, screaming about how he couldn't stay and would rather die anywhere but here. Troy caught up to him before he got too far and dragged him back inside the base kicking and screaming. He too had to be restrained. Noah looked nervously over to Gia as Tensou rolled out a third bed and a set of cuffs. Gia groaned and shook her head.

"I'm _fine._ I feel a little weird, but I am fine. I'm not going to choke anyone or run off."

"Good," Troy said and he rubbed his arms, where he had suffered some painful scratch marks from restraining Emma and Jake, "I don't want to do that a third time."

"So, is it the carrots doing this?" Noah turned to Gosei to ask. "They were both hit."

"Robo-Knight and me too," Gia added, "but we're fine. Sore, I guess, but not crazy."

"Have Tensou run a scan," Gosei said as Tensou rolled over to Gia with a wand in his hand. Gia rolled her eyes but stayed still as Tensou waved the wand around her body. Noah watched Gia's readings on the panel as they came up and frowned.

"Gia… this isn't good."

"What?" Gia looked to Noah curiously, "I feel normal. I…"

"This says you should be scared," Noah said as he looked up at Gia, "Like, terrified."

Tensou moved on to analyzing Emma and then Jake, while Noah looked over their results. It was all the same.

"Fear inducing carrots?" Troy asked and turned to Gosei, "Please tell me you have some answers. I mean, this can't be right."

"I'm looking into it," Gosei assured the three Rangers. "As soon as I come up with an explanation, I will let you know."

"If it is true, though, and those carrots do cause us to feel fear," Noah said, "That would explain why Robo-Knight wasn't affected. He's a robot. He's incapable of feeling any kind of emotion."

"Maybe it's a good thing that chip never made it to him," Troy said. "At least that means we've got one Ranger immune to this mutant's special powers."

"Two," Noah shook his head and turned to Gia, "If Tensou's scans are right, you should be freaking out like they are. I have no idea over what, but you should be hysterical."

"Maybe I was hit by a dud," Gia shrugged her shoulders. She looked up at Gosei, "If you don't mind, I'd like to stay here to keep an eye on Emma and Jake."

"Yeah, me too," Noah agreed before they both turned to Troy. He nodded his head.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Tensou, sedate them for now," Gosei ordered. He could barely hear himself think, and could barely hear the other three Rangers over the screams and cries of Jake and Emma. Tensou sadly stuck the black and pink Rangers with a needle, and within moments they were out.

"I'm going to see if there's anything I can do to make them comfortable," Tensou said before disappearing to another room. Gosei's eyes faded to black as he disappeared to do a little more research on what had happened to his Rangers.

Noah crossed his arms over his chest and looked to Gia, "You're smart enough to know you weren't hit by a dud."

"I feel fine."

"Gia, your anxiety levels were off the charts!" Noah turned to Troy for back up, and the red Ranger nodded his head.

"Probably even more so than Jake and Emma. There's no way you were hit by a dud. You've been affected."

"It wouldn't be the first time. Maybe I've built up immunity to…"

"Gia…"

"Look, we don't even know what's wrong with them," Gia pointed to Jake and Emma and then sighed loudly, "Maybe they're the special ones and I'm just ordinary like you two."

"Or maybe…"

"I don't have an answer for the two of you," Gia shook her head. She took a seat at the foot of Emma's bed and sighed again. "We'll just have to wait to see what Gosei says, or until that monster comes back so we can beat him and break whatever spell this is."

"Alright, fine," Noah said in defeat, "I guess we'll wait. I'm going to see if Tensou needs any help."

"I'm going to let mom know I won't be coming home," Troy said as he pulled out his cell phone, "I'll be back. I've got to find somewhere I can get good reception.

Gia nodded her head and watched both boys leave before she turned back to Jake and Emma. She wasn't sure what was going on with them, or why she wasn't affected in the same way, but it did scare her. It wasn't anything more than usual. In fact, it was nothing she couldn't handle. By now she was used to living in fear, in panic, and in anxiety. So, though she was worried for her friends and their well-being, she wasn't going to become hysterical. And though she was worried for why she wasn't affected by the mutant's spells like they were, she wasn't going to let it control her.

_Author's Note: So, I promised a gift for my wonderful reviewers, and I'm going to deliver. Leave a review for the chapter (a respectful review. You don't have to like the chapter, but as long as your review is respectful, that's all that matters) and if you want it, I can give you a preview of a future chapter in the series. Unfortunately, I can't do this for anonymous reviewers (and I do have some awesome anonymous reviewers), and I do apologize for that._

_Disrespectful and demanding reviewers will be ignored (anonymous or signed)._


	139. Living In Fear

When Jake woke up, all he could see were walls around him. He knew he was in a bed, and he knew he felt fine, but for some reason, everyone had decided he needed to be in the hospital. No one would tell him why, and as he lay in bed and looked around at the walls keeping him trapped, he knew he was dying.

He tried to get up. He had to get away from the hospital. The further he could go, the better he would be. He didn't need the doctors lying to him or his father trying to assure him that he would be okay if he rested. He didn't need medicine. He didn't need any of it. He tried to get up. He tried to leave the room, but he found he was trapped. Looking over, he saw his wrists were cuffed to the sides of the bed. He couldn't get free.

"No… no…" he shook his head and pulled on the cuffs, hoping they weren't strong enough to hold, but they were. His heart started racing. He could feel it pounding inside his chest. He pulled and pulled, but to no avail. He was trapped. If he didn't get free, he knew he was going to die, and yet he was trapped. "No, please no…"

"Jake," it was his friend Noah, coming to his side and coming to his aid. Noah put a hand on his chest and pushed him down gently, "Jake, it's okay. You're safe."

"No, don't lie to me," Jake pulled on his restraints again and shook his head, "Please, Noah, don't lie to me."

"Tensou scanned you over. I double checked all the results. You're extremely stressed, but you're going to be okay. The carrots put some kind of spell on you. Once we find a way to stop it, or once we defeat the monster, this will be over."

"No, please," Jake looked up pleadingly at Noah, "Let me out of here, Noah. I can't die."

"You're not going to die," Noah promised, but Jake didn't believe him. He shook his head.

"Please… Please, let me out. I don't need a hospital. I'm not sick. I feel fine. I don't want to die."

"You're not going to die."

"This place is killing me!" Jake cried and he pulled on his restraints again. He was frustrated when they held. He let out a loud scream as he continued to fight the restraints as well as kick his legs in a desperate attempt to get away.

Hearing Jake's screams, Troy and Gia came in from the other room, where they had been looking over Tensou's shoulder to find out as much as they could about what was happening to their friends.

"Jake…"

"I think he thinks he's in a hospital," Noah said to Gia and Troy as they came to comfort the black Ranger. "I know that look in his eyes. But I don't get it. Obviously we're at the command center."

"Obviously," Troy repeated and then turned to Tensou, who was coming in slowly, "Anything about hallucinations?"

"Nothing yet," Tensou shook his head and sunk slightly in disappointment. He wanted to be able to help. He considered the Rangers to be his friends and he wanted to do all he could to make sure they were okay. "Nothing matches up. I've ruled out what's going on with Robo-Knight, because he's a robot and spells work differently on him."

"Or not at all," Gia said.

"But I still have no idea why Jake and Emma are suffering so much, but Gia's perfectly fine… only she's not… only she is."

"The ever mysterious Gia Moran," Noah muttered. He turned back to Jake, who was still kicking and screaming, "Jake, it's the command center, not a hospital. You're okay."

"Then let me go!"

"Are you going to run away?" Noah asked.

"I have to get out of here," Jake answered honestly. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't the answer Noah was looking for, and unfortunately he had to leave Jake strapped to the bed.

"Ohh…" Tensou sighed sadly as he rolled over to the bed with another needle, "I don't like having to sedate you, Rangers."

He stuck the needle in Jake's arm and within moments the black Ranger was calm. Noah wiped a few tears from his eyes and then shook his head. He turned to Gia, "How do you do it?"

"I don't know. Don't you think I'd have said something to him if I knew anything?"

"Tensou," Troy looked at the little robot, "Why would Jake think he's in a hospital?"

"I don't know."

"Noah, isn't that his biggest fear?"

Noah nodded his head, "One of his very few. Really, nothing tops the hospital in terms of fear factor. Jake honestly believes it's where everyone he loves goes to die. I burned myself while working on my projects last year, and it was pretty bad. I spent a week in the hospital, and Jake didn't visit me once."

"Not once?"

"It's that bad," Noah said. "Jake would rather die at the hands of Vrak or the mutants, than ever step foot inside a hospital. Some people fear clowns, or spiders, or snakes, or public speaking. Jake fears hospitals."

Troy thought about it for a moment before looking over to Emma, then Gia, "Her biggest fear?"

Gia let out a sigh, "Right now, it's got to be something to do with her father. She's not been at all the same since he came back. Why?"

"Tensou, tell me if this sounds at all ridiculous, but is it possible those carrots make us live out our worst fears? Wouldn't that explain why the anxiety levels are so high?"

"And the panicked screams, Jake's need to run away," Noah nodded his head as he thought about Troy's suggestion. "If he thinks he's in a hospital, then I'm sure he's living out his worst nightmare."

Gia bit her lip and looked nervously to Emma. She knew Emma's fears, but none could be explained by her behaviour on the battle field.

"What about you?" Troy asked Gia. "You were hit. We've seen from the scans those carrots affected you just as much as them. What's your biggest fear? Why isn't it hurting you like the others?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Gia shook her head. Troy and Noah looked to each other and then back to Gia.

"We're not going to laugh or judge you," Noah promised her. "My biggest fear is that I'll create a new technology that'll go out of control and hurt a lot of people, or it'll fall into the wrong hands. Like some super computer that can destroy the world, or something. It's ridiculous, but yeah, that's it."

"I show up at school naked, and everyone laughs at me," Troy said. "I know I don't let what people say hurt me, but there's something about being naked and laughed at that just… even I can't stand up to that. At least, when I'm fully clothed, I feel like the people who make fun of me, or try to push me around can't see the real me. They sure as hell can when I'm naked."

"Good for you."

"Seriously? You haven't learned by now that we're your friends?" Noah asked Gia with frustrated sigh. "Can you really have a more ridiculous or embarrassing fear than rogue machine and being naked in public?"

Gia sighed, "You already know it. I'm scared of getting hurt."

"Like Cliff?" Troy asked. Gia nodded slowly.

"I'm doing my best to fight it. You guys help a lot, but it's still hard. I'm scared that if I let someone get too close… they're going to take advantage of me. I'm still scared I can't tell the bad people from the good. What I have right now with you guys does freak me out, and though I do feel a bit more comfortable with Jake, letting him get so close to me terrifies me."

"You didn't need the carrot," Troy looked to the monitor to see Gia's scans. "I'm sure it gave you a little extra fear, but you live with all these anxieties every day, don't you?"

"That's why you're not losing control like they are," Noah continued. "You already know how to function in fear."

"That can't be the trick to beating this, though," Gia shook her head and looked to Emma and Jake. "This sucks. I wouldn't wish this on them. They've got to fight it."

"Rangers," Gosei's voice startled the three as he returned, "I'm afraid the mutant is back."

"What about Jake and Emma?" Troy asked.

"Leave then here with me. I'll make sure nothing happens to them."

"We've got to go," Noah said. "If we can't find a way to get the guys to fight their fears then we've got to beat this rabbit."

"Robo-Knight is on his way. Be careful. We can't afford to lose another Ranger."

"Worse come to worse, let me handle the carrots," Gia told the boys. "We know they can't do anything to me."

"Except blow you to pieces," Troy said. "For once, I think we let Robo-Knight do his thing. Let's go make sure he gets the job done right."


	140. Fight The Fear

"Go, Robo-Knight!" were words Noah never thought he would mean, but as he watched the robotic Ranger take on the fearful rabbit, he couldn't help but cheer on his teammate. Robo-Knight had taken some damage from the last battle, but not enough to hold him back. Because he was a robot he couldn't feel pain or fear and therefore there was nothing to stop him from giving the rabbit mutant his all.

"Threats to the Earth must be destroyed!" Robo-Knight pointed his blaster at the rabbit mutant and fired, but the rabbit was fast. He jumped up, avoided the blast, and came down. He swiped at Robo-Knight, knocking him over.

"We have to help!" Troy said, seeing the hit was a lot for Robo-Knight to take as he struggled to get back to his feet. The mutant rabbit, having forgotten the other Rangers were watching, focused himself on defeating Robo-Knight. He pulled out carrots from his belt and threw them at Robo-Knight.

"Take that, you stupid bucket of bolts! Robots are no match for the super powers of the toxic sludge! Once I take you down…!"

"Shut it, freak!" Troy shouted as he charged at the rabbit, sword in hand. He swiped once, missing the rabbit's head, but cutting off an ear. The rabbit cried out in pain before throwing a handful of carrots at Troy.

"Shark Bowgun!" Noah shouted and fired a blast at each of the carrots, destroying them before they could hit Troy. When he was sure his leader was okay, he suggested a team-up, knowing that with this monster, they needed to watch each other's backs.

Gia saw the boys had control of the fight for now and so ran over to help Robo-Knight. She was far from being his number fan, but had resigned herself to the fact that he was a teammate and a valuable one. She needed him, especially now.

"Where are the others?" Robo-Knight asked. He had noticed only three of the five Rangers had turned up, and though his focus was on the battle, he had to know what was keeping the others from turning up.

"Those carrots did something funny to them. Troy and Noah shouldn't even be getting this close to the mutant."

"Why?"

"If those carrots hit you, we think you live out your worst fear. Jake and Emma, whatever's going on with them, they're useless."

"Useless?"

"Not like that. The mutant did something to them with those carrots, and if hits Noah and Troy, it'll just be you and me. Personally, I'd rather not _have_ to partner up with you against some freak, bucked tooth rabbit."

"What if the carrot hits you?"

"It won't have an effect, and you don't have any fears. We can stop this rabbit."

"If we team up?"

"I don't like it either," Gia nodded her head, "but it's better now than later, when we're the only thing standing between the mutants and the Earth."

Robo-Knight looked to the battle and he could see Troy and Noah were having a bit of a hard time. Though they were doing well, they couldn't get much done because they had to spend most of their time avoiding the carrots. All it took was one hit, and they would be useless.

"You work on your own, but you've got to admit, we do lighten the load. Protecting my friends will benefit you."

"And for you?"

"Two people I care a lot about are hurting. I know what they're going through, and I know how bad it is. They've done everything to help me. I need to return the favour."

"My armour is stronger than your Ranger suit," Robo-Knight said, "I will protect you from the carrots."

Robo-Knight put his blaster in Gia's hands, "When I say so, shoot right for the mutant. Once shot is all you'll need to finish him off."

"Just one?"

"Aim it properly."

Gia nodded her head and held Robo-Knight's blaster carefully. He charged back into battle, ploughing into the mutant while Gia rushed over to her friends. She helped them up.

"Are you guys okay?"

"After this, I might have a fear of rabbits," Noah massaged his arm. "But I'm fine."

"Me too."

"Good," Gia smiled behind her helmet, "Stay here. Robo-Knight and I have a plan."

"Seriously? You and Robo-Knight?"

"I'd work with anyone if it means saving Emma and Jake," Gia nodded. She left the boys and hurried to join Robo-Knight. When the mutant saw her, he was frustrated. He had hit her with a carrot already. She wasn't supposed to be causing him anymore trouble.

"Maybe one is not enough…"

"Give it five seconds," Robo-Knight said to Gia as he jumped in front of her, taking the hit from the carrots. He soared over her head as the carrots exploded and sent him backwards into a nearby car. Gia counted in her head to five seconds before pulling the trigger and hitting the rabbit right in the teeth.

-Megaforce-

As Jake came too once more, he felt a strong sense of fear wash over him. He remembered the source of his fear and opened his eyes to see if he was still trapped in a hospital. The rocky walls of the command center put his mind at ease, and he took a couple of breaths to calm his rapidly beating heart.

"What a nightmare," he muttered, and just as he was about to get up he felt his arms couldn't move. He looked to either side of him and gasped. Then he shouted loudly, "Tensou! Gosei! What the hell?"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Tensou repeated as he rolled over clumsily to the bed. "Jake? Is that really you?"

"Of course it's me! Unlock these damn cuffs!"

"Not until you tell me where you are," Tensou said. "Gosei's orders."

"Tell Gosei, I'm in the command center," Jake growled. "Seriously, Tensou, I'm not kidding around. Let me go!"

"Okay, okay," Tensou reached up and unlocked the cuffs. Jake breathed out a sigh and massaged his wrists as they were freed. Then he looked over and saw Emma. She lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. It seemed she hadn't realized that she too was cuffed to the bed.

"Em?"

She looked over. Tears soaked her face, "I can't tell."

"Can't tell what?" Jake asked. He got up slowly and made his way to her bed, unlocking her cuffs and setting her free. Emma sat up.

"What happened?"

"It was all just a nightmare," Tensou explained to the Rangers. "The mutant's dirty trick is what made you live out your deepest fears. But if you're back to yourselves now, it must all be over! Oh, I'm so glad!"

"So it was just a dream?" Emma looked to Jake for confirmation. He nodded his head.

"If Tensou said it was," he hugged Emma gently. "Don't worry I was scared too. It's over now, though."

Emma breathed out a sigh and wiped her tears. Then she heard footsteps approaching the command center and turned eagerly to see who was coming. Gia was first to walk in.

"Jake, Emma, are you… OOF!"

Emma took Gia by surprise as she ran into her and embraced her tightly. Gia wrapped her arms around Emma and looked to Jake.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm miles from the closest hospital," Jake nodded his head and gave Gia a little smile, "Yeah, I'm okay."

"That's good to hear," Noah smiled as he gave Jake a pat on the back. "You really had us worried."

"You know how I get when I start freaking out," Jake chuckled. He gave his teammates and apologetic look, "Sorry for… whatever I did."

"As long as you're okay, it was worth it," Troy said. He looked to the podiums in the middle of the room with the corner of his eye, and then smiled at his teammates, "Gia, Jake, Emma, why don't you three head home. Your parents are probably worried. You've been out all night."

"Dad's going to flip," Jake grumbled.

"What are you two going to do?" Gia asked, finding it odd the boys would want to stay back. Troy pointed to the beds.

"We're going to help Tensou clean up. Hopefully we won't need the beds for a while, but you never know."

"Go home," Noah nodded, "We shouldn't be long."

Gia continued to hold Emma (mostly because the pink Ranger wouldn't let go) and walked out while also keeping a close eye on Jake. She had been worried for both of them, and was glad to see defeating the mutant had brought them back to normal.

Troy waited for the three to be gone before he turned around and looked at each of their coloured podiums. Noah knew what he was doing, and had a look for himself.

"Jake and Emma's levels are all back to normal," he said.

"Gia's isn't as high, but it's still…" Troy trailed off and sighed as his fears were confirmed. "I knew it had be true, but I was hoping there was another reason she wasn't affected."

"What can we do?" Noah asked. "I don't think I could live with myself if we just let this slide. She shouldn't have to live like that."

"Time," Gosei said and his voice startled the boys, who had no idea he was listening. "All you can do is give her time."

"But Gosei…"

"Gia will see in time that she has nothing to fear. This is a battle she must fight on her own."

Noah shook his head. He didn't like that answer, "But she's not alone. We can help. We want to help."

"By being her friends, you are doing all you can. Only time can help Gia."

Noah sighed and he turned to Troy. The red Ranger didn't like what he was hearing either, but both boys knew Gosei was right. They could do all they wanted to show Gia that her trust wasn't misplaced, and that she had nothing to fear while her friends were looking out for her, but only Gia could overcome her own fears.

"Go home and rest, Rangers. The battle was tough," Gosei said then teleported Noah and Troy to the park so they could walk home.


	141. Revealed Secret

Troy arrived home late at night. Fortunately, it was only shortly after his curfew, so his parents didn't have much to say. A quick reminder about keeping his eye on the time and calling if he would be late, and then the matter was dropped. His parents went to bed, tired from their day. Troy went to his room. He was also tired, but he couldn't sleep.

He knew what it was like to live in fear. For a while, as a child, he had been bullied. Before he learned to stand up for himself and walk away, it had been a scary time for him. He never knew when he was going to be tripped, or pushed, or humiliated and he saw danger in all his classmates. It was unsettling, uncomfortable, and unmanageable. It wasn't until Ryan, the nerdy, scrawny kid with a heart of gold, stood up for him, that Troy realized that the world wasn't full of danger and bad people.

That was in the past for him. It had taken a long time, but eventually Troy did make friends. Thanks to Gosei and his destiny to become a Power Ranger, Troy now had four friends whom he cared for and who cared for him. There were people in this world outside of his parents who he could turn to when he was in trouble, and he knew they would support him. There were people in this world that he would trust with his life.

But, while the past was in the past for him, fear was an ongoing problem for Gia. If the latest mutant had revealed anything, it was that Gia needed more help than anyone realized. She was getting better, but she had fallen into the habit of acting tough, being strong, and not asking for help until she lost control. It was also likely Gia needed more help than she realized. Two years was a long time. Long enough for Gia to forget what it was like to feel normal. She knew she was getting better, but better didn't mean good. If the scans at the command center were trustworthy (and Troy was sure they were), Gia's level of stress – her fear – was still way too high to be normal or healthy.

Troy knew what that was like. Living in fear was the worst way to live a life, and he knew that if Gia wasn't careful, she was going to get hurt again. She was picky with the people she trusted, which was a good and bad thing, but all it took was for the wrong person to get through to her, and that was it.

Emma was doing her best. Gia's parents were supporting her completely. Jake had nothing but Gia's best interest at heart. Noah would go to great lengths to help his friends.

Troy wanted to keep them all safe, and as long as he and the others were around, no one was going to hurt Gia again. No one was going to hurt any of the Rangers.

But all it took was one little oversight.

He lay in bed and looked up at the ceiling. Gosei said there was nothing he could do. Troy wished, and he hoped that wasn't true.

-Megaforce-

A soft knock on her door made Emma roll over. She walked gingerly across her room and answered.

"Gia's sound asleep," Mrs. Moran said, and Mr. Moran stood right behind her. "You looked like you needed to talk about something."

"Ranger related," Emma whispered, "I shouldn't…"

"Sweetheart, if the monster's been destroyed and there's still something hurting you, we want to help," Mrs. Moran said. Emma thought about it for a moment. It was dangerous to talk to the Morans about what happened during the Ranger missions. The less they knew the better. But something was bothering her.

And technically, it wasn't completely Ranger related. She nodded her head and followed the Morans downstairs to the couch.

"The mutant made us live out our worst nightmares," she explained. "That was his power. Jake and I were affected by it."

"So what did you live through?" Mr. Moran asked.

"Well… first I was back at Ernie's… with Gia."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Mr. Moran said. Mrs. Moran nudged him in the ribs.

Emma continued with her story, "Dad showed up, like it really happened. We talked a bit, and then he pulled out the gun. Only, instead of nothing happening after that, he shot Gia. He killed her. I couldn't stop it."

Mrs. Moran pulled Emma gently into her arms and held her warmly. Mr. Moran grabbed a pillow tightly. He didn't know what he hated more about Mr. Goodall: the fact that he had threatened to kill Gia, or the effect it had long-term on Emma to see her father try to take a life.

"The rest of my nightmare was after Gia was dead. Mom never came home, Jordan's long gone, Dad's in prison, Gia's gone, and you two resented me because I didn't do anything. It's like, if Gia's gone, everything fall apart."

"That's not true, Emma," Mr. Moran put his hand on Emma's back. "We would never…"

"You don't know unless it happened," Emma shook her head and sighed. "You have no idea how you would feel if… if I let Gia get shot."

Emma pulled away from Mr. and Mrs. Moran and lowered her head, "Jake's nightmare was just about being sick in a hospital. When he woke up, none of it was real. He got off easy. Mine could have happened…"

"But it didn't," Mrs. Moran reminded Emma, "That nightmare is just as unreal as Jake's. Your father did not kill Gia. You didn't let it happen."

"And you never would," Mr. Moran smiled softly. "Emma, I don't know if you've realized this, but you put yourself between Gia and a gun. If your father wanted to do anything to Gia, he would have had to go through you. Do you have any idea what that means to us?"

"Or how terrified we are that something could have happened to you instead?" Mrs. Moran said.

Mr. Moran nodded before he continued, "What I'm saying is that you protected Gia with your life. That is what happened at Ernie's. For the rest of my life, I will never, ever forget that. And if anything does happen to Gia, God forbid, Vanessa and I would never resent you, because we know you would have done everything to try and help."

"Your mother may be gone forever. Jordan's probably forgotten all about you, and your father's going away for a long time for what he tried to do, but we're never leaving you," Mrs. Moran put her hand on Emma's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Your world will not fall apart, we promise you that."

"No matter what happens to us, to Gia, or anywhere else," Mr. Moran smiled.

"Okay," Emma nodded her head and flashed the Morans a little smile. She had no reason not to trust them. They had never done anything to make her feel abandoned before. If anything, they had always been there when she needed someone.

"Good," Mr. and Mrs. Moran gave Emma a big group hug. When they let go, Mrs. Moran looked at the pink Ranger.

"So, that's all the mutant did? Just the nightmare?"

"Not cuts, bruises, anything we should know about?"

"Tensou looked us over, and you know the suits take most of the damage for us," Emma smirked. "If there was something you needed to know about, I wouldn't be here telling you there's nothing more you need to know."

"We know," Mrs. Moran said, "It's just hard not to worry."

"What about Gia?" Mr. Moran asked. "She's okay, right? Was she affected by the monster?"

"Well… she was hit but nothing happened to her. She worked with Robo-Knight to finish off the mutant for good. And once the monsters are gone, their spells wear off. So, if there is something wrong, we're just going to have to wait for her to talk, just like with everything else."

"Okay," Mrs. Moran said. She gave Emma a hug goodnight, "If you say there's nothing to worry about, we'll believe you. Go to bed, a Ranger battle does not excuse you from missing school in the morning or sleeping through classes."

Emma got up from the couch and said goodnight to the Morans. Just as she turned the corner to head upstairs, she noticed Gia sitting on the staircase. Her stomach started to knot.

"G…Gia. You're up?"

"Mhm," Gia nodded her head. "And before you ask, I've been here long enough."

Her parents came around the corner and stopped suddenly, just like Emma, when they saw Gia sitting on the stairs. All three of them wore a guilty expression as they looked to the yellow Ranger.

"Gia, how long have you been sitting there?"

"How much did you hear?" her parents asked her. Gia shook her head.

"I thought I was the one in the dark here," she turned to Emma, "You told them?"

"Gia, I…"

"You know what," Gia got up, "Save it. I don't want to hear any of it. Obviously it's been a while."

"Gia, please," her mother stepped forward and reached out for her arm, but Gia pulled away. She stormed up the stairs. Her parents and Emma followed. When they got to Gia's room, they saw her packing a bag.

"It's the middle of the night," her father told her. "Gia, I understand you're angry…"

"Not just angry," Gia shook her head and her family saw tears.

"Gia, you know why we have to keep secrets. The less people know…"

"Everyone here knows!" Gia shouted at Emma. "Everyone knows, and everyone knows that everyone knows except for me! Did you ever consider how that would make me feel?"

"It's not like you were supposed to find out…"

"I'm the fool!" Gia screamed. "I'm lying to my parents to try and cover both our asses, but they know the truth and you know they know the truth?"

"Gia…"

"Shut up," Gia turned on her parents, "You're just as bad."

"Sweetheart…"

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to be a Ranger?" Gia said. "Oh wait, of course you do. Emma's been telling you all about it."

"Gia, that's not…"

"I can barely manage my own life!" Gia screamed. "Now I've got two identities to balance, twice as many problems, and you both know about it and you do nothing!"

"We didn't do nothing…"

"You've just ignored…"

"We haven't been ignoring…"

"I'm a fool!"

"You're not…"

"I'm a stupid, clueless idiot!"

"No, Gia…"

"Does Jake know?" Gia turned to Emma. The pink Ranger shook her head.

"He's got no idea your parents know."

Gia picked up her bag and put it over her shoulder, "I'm staying with him."

"Gia, it's the middle of the night. You're not leaving by yourself…"

"I'll drive you," Mr. Moran said.

"I don't need…"

"It's the middle of the night," her father said. "You're hurt and there are bad people out there. I will drop you off at Jake's."

"Joe…"

"Come on, Gia…"

"I'm driving," Gia growled and stormed past her parents and Emma to get to the car first. "For all I know, you'd drive the car off a cliff or something."

"GIA!"

"Shut up!" Gia screamed at her mother before she raced down the stairs and out the door. Mr. Moran followed her as quickly as he could so she wouldn't drive off without him.


	142. Backwards

Jake met with Gia in the lobby of his hotel. Since finding out his mother's plan to keep Gia away from him, Jake and his father had moved out. They were trying to work things out with Mrs. Holling, but her refusal to understand why she had been so, so wrong made it difficult. Until a final decision was made to determine the future of the family, Jake and his father were staying in a hotel. It was best that way.

A call in the early hours of the morning pulled Jake from his warm bed and made him walk all the way downstairs. The hotel couldn't simply give his room number away and had called up saying he had a guest. When Jake heard it was Gia, he knew he had to go down and talk to her. There was no good reason why she would be disturbing him in the middle of the night.

"Is everything okay?" he asked her, though he knew the answer had to be no. Just as he expected, Gia shook her head.

"They know."

"I need more information than that. Who knows what?"

"My parents know about us."

"I didn't think there was an…"

"Jake," Gia growled. It took a minute before Jake knew what she was talking about.

"Wait, you mean…" Gia nodded her head. Jake frowned, "How did they find out? I'm assuming you didn't tell them, right?"

"I didn't. I… I got up and heard them talking downstairs. After what happened with you and Emma and the mutant, I wanted to make sure everything was okay. I heard my parents and Emma talk about Gosei, Tensou, and, you know, Ranger stuff."

"Just like that?"

"It's not the first time they hear about it. That was clear."

"But how would they know? Emma wouldn't have…"

"I don't know," Gia shook her head and her eyes started to water again. She thought she had gotten it all out in the car as she screamed at her father the whole way to the hotel, but the hurt was coming back again. She felt betrayed.

Jake didn't say anything as he took Gia in his arms and held her, "I'm sorry, Gia."

-Megaforce-

"Prom is coming up!"

An invitation seemingly fell from the sky and fluttered down in front of Emma's face as she rearranged the books in her locker. Emma grabbed it, and stuffed it inside her locker angrily.

"One more stupid reminder of how fucked up everything is," she muttered. Prom had been the last thing on her mind, but now that she had been reminded of it, she remembered she would be going alone, if she was even going at all anymore. Gia had already asked Jake, and he said yes. Emma promised to be there with Gia for support, but now that didn't seem likely.

And she didn't want to go alone. Being third wheel on a date with Jake and Gia would be better than going to prom alone. Everyone expected that from her.

"Turning down Junior Prom?" Noah asked when he saw Emma put the invitation carelessly into her locker. "I know Jordan's gone but…"

"Just don't talk, Noah," Emma muttered.

"Sorry, touchy subject, I know but Troy had a good idea. Jake and Gia are going together, so what if the three of us went together. Troy and I could be your dates."

"I'm really not in the mood."

"You're already going to be there to support Gia, right? Might as well have fun. Prom isn't exactly my thing either but…"

"Gia doesn't want anything to do with me right now," Emma whispered. Noah looked confused, but didn't have time to ask as Jake stormed into the school.

"What happened?" he demanded to know. Noah looked even more confused. Jake seemed furious.

Emma closed her locker and sighed, "Jake, you have to understand…"

"Understand? Understand what? What possible reason could you have for…?"

"I didn't like doing this!"

"But it seems you had no problem betraying her! She's devastated Emma!"

"I know, and I'm sorry but…"

"You two are supposed to be honest with each other! You know you need to show her respect and trust and… you're supposed to be her best friend!"

"Jake, I…"

"No excuses. You know exactly what you did. You knew this would hurt her, but you did it anyways. Did you really think she wouldn't find out?"

"It's not like _I_ told them! They found out…"

"They knew and they didn't say anything. You knew they knew, and you didn't say anything. That's what disgusts me."

Jake knocked Emma's books from her hands before storming off to his locker. Emma knelt to pick up her books. Noah knelt beside her to help.

"Whatever that was about, I'm really…"

"I deserved it," Emma shook her head. She hugged her books to her chest and walked off to class. Noah scratched the back of his neck and bit his lip as he watched her go.

At that moment, Troy walked by and stopped at his locker. Noah made his way over.

"Do you have any idea what's going on between the others?"

Troy shook his head, "Not really, why?"

"I think it's bad."

Troy closed his locker and turned all his attention to Noah, "How bad?"

"Jake's defending Gia against Emma."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Noah shrugged his shoulders, "but it seemed pretty serious. In Jake's words, Gia's devastated. Jake's pretty fired up. And Emma just stood there and took his abuse."

"This is backwards," Troy nodded his head just as the bell rang for class. "We'll have to deal with it later, though."

"We're going to keep an eye on them, though, right?"

"Definitely," Troy said.


	143. Obvious Secret

Gia stared at the worksheet before her. She knew all the answers but she couldn't focus.

"Gia," Mrs. Chesterfield called her name to get her attention, "Gia, would you like me to read the questions over again?"

She sniffed and shook her head. She kept her eyes on her paper, but could see in the corner of her eye that Emma was looking over worriedly. On her other side, Jake seemed furious not at her, but at Emma.

In the middle, between the two, Gia was crushed. She still couldn't wrap her head around her parents' and Emma's betrayal. She still couldn't believe it had happened and it left her with a pain she had never felt before. It was an intense pain, like her family had plunged a knife into her back, ripped her heart out, curb-stomped her, and punched her in the stomach all at once.

She was hurt.

Ms. Chesterfield bent over, "Gia," she put her hand on Gia's back, "The period's almost over and you've not put anything down."

Gia grabbed her head in her hands. There was a silence in the classroom.

Just then, the bell rang. No one moved from their seats. They would have to be back in the classroom in five minutes anyways, but Ms. Chesterfield always allowed them to get up and walk around between classes.

Today, no one wanted to leave. Everyone held their breath as they waited for something to happen.

Jake then decided enough was enough. He slipped out of his seat and wrapped his arms around Gia.

Ms. Chesterfield stood up straight, "Should I call…?"

"That would be a bad idea," Emma interrupted the vice-principal and looked up sadly with a shake of her head, "Something happened at home."

"Something…" Ms. Chesterfield turned back to Gia and sighed, "Does it ever end? Gia, I… Gia, let's go talk."

She touched Gia's back for a moment, then walked to the front of the room and picked up the phone. As she called down for someone to watch over her class, Jake pushed Gia away gently.

"Take a minute with Chesterfield," he told her. "You don't have to tell her anything, but you shouldn't stay in here."

Gia nodded her head. When Ms. Chesterfield waved her into the hallway, Gia followed. Once they were gone, Jake glared at Emma.

"You disgust me."

"Jake, I didn't want this to happen. I…"

"You _disgust_ me."

"You don't need to repeat it. I already hate myself…"

"You should! You know better than anyone what Gia's going through! You never should have hidden this from her. You never should have gone behind her back!"

"I didn't!"

"Doesn't matter. You disgust…"

"Silence!" a man shouted as he slammed his briefcase on the desk and he turned to the four students in the classroom. The Ranger recognized him as Dr. Oliver, a teacher who had been in the school a few times already and would be starting an official teaching position in September. Emma knew him better as the man who nearly ran Gia over.

He walked to the door and closed it. Then he turned to the classroom, "This is not the way Power Rangers behave!"

Jaws dropped. Dr. Oliver knew he had their attention. He walked back to the desk and took a seat.

"So, what's happening?"

Noah nervously raised his hand and waited to be called on, "What?"

"We suck at this secret identity thing," Troy muttered to himself and sunk down in his seat.

"You don't suck," Dr. Oliver shook his head. "It's just, when you've been a Ranger the signs are a lot more obvious."

"When you've been a Ranger?"

"I was about your age my first time around," Dr. Oliver nodded his head. "And my teammates and I all fought, but this… what I just heard is unacceptable…"

"You have no idea…" Jake spoke up but was silenced by a glare from Dr. Oliver.

"And I don't care," he pointed to Emma, "No matter what happened between you, she is a teammate. Your life may one day be in her hands. Or, these may be the final words you say to her. Is this really how you want things to end?"

"But…"

"No," Dr. Oliver shook his head, "Now, we're going to get this problem out of the way. Jake, you have the floor."

Jake shot Emma a dirty look before telling his story.

-Megaforce-

In the hallway, Ms. Chesterfield and Gia walked slowly as they waited for the students to clear out and go to their next class. When the second bell rang, Ms. Chesterfield made sure all students moved quickly. Once the halls were empty, she found a bench and sat with Gia.

"Is this something you can talk to me about?" she asked and Gia shook her head. Ms. Chesterfield sighed.

"Gia, I do care for you. You're more than just a student to me, and if something is bothering you, I want to help. I can't do that if…"

"I can't talk about it."

Ms. Chesterfield nodded her head, "Okay. Well, there's something I want to talk to you about."

"What?"

"I couldn't believe I didn't see this for myself a long, long time ago," Ms. Chesterfield started, "Gia, I need to ask you a very serious question. And please, do not lie to me. I know the truth."

"So then why are you…?"

"Are you the yellow Ranger?"

Gia's eyes started to water. This wasn't fair. She tried to get up, but Ms. Chesterfield grabbed her arm.

"Gia, a former Ranger told me. Dr. Oliver. I guess he decided it was for the best I knew."

"Dr. Oliver? You mean the guy who…"

"Yeah. My hiring him was accidental, but I'm glad it happened. Recently, he shared his secret with me, as well as his suspicion about you and your friends. I've got to say, it seems pretty plausible."

"So everyone knows but me," Gia rolled her eyes, "That's just fucking great…"

"Language, Miss Moran," Ms. Chesterfield scolded the younger girl with a shake of her head. "Just because you save the world, you do not have permission to curse in these halls."

"So, Dr. Oliver is a Ranger," Gia said, "and he told you about us because he somehow found out…"

"He says it's easy to spot a fellow Ranger. And he only told me to help you. Looking back, I realize balancing school work and Ranger duties, and detention must not have been easy."

Gia shook her head. Ms. Chesterfield smiled.

"Does this help? Can we talk now?"

"My parents know too," Gia whispered, "They've known for a while. I found out last night when they went behind my back."

"Gia…"

"It's hard being a Ranger," Gia whispered. "I hated lying to my parents. I hated having a life I couldn't tell them about. I hated being in trouble and not being able to tell them about it, or ask for their help. But all this time they knew, and Emma knew they knew."

"Gia…"

"That hurts!" Gia put her hand on her heart. "I feel like an idiot for believing they bought my pathetic lies; like they've spent all this time laughing at me or not caring that I was a Ranger. And then there's Emma."

"What did Emma do?"

"She knew! Last night, I caught them talking about the latest monster like it was a regular thing! She talks with them. She tells them the truth, and then lies to me about it! Lately, she's always been telling me she'll explain our disappearances to my parents, and if they know then that means…"

"She was lying to you," Ms. Chesterfield finished. Gia nodded her head.

"I have a hard time trusting people," Gia said softly. "I know I have friends, but I'm still scared they want to hurt me. Ms. Chesterfield, it literally _hurts_ when I have to trust someone like you, or Troy, or Noah. I feel like my heart's trying to kill me for trusting Jake this much. Emma and my parents are the only people who… it didn't hurt before, and now… I'd rather be back with Cliff."

"What are you doing now?" Ms. Chesterfield asked. "Are you still at home?"

"No. I don't think I want to go back."

"Where are you staying?"

"With Jake and his dad, but…"

"But?"

"Jake's in a hotel, and…"

"My home is just down the street," Ms. Chesterfield said. "If you feel comfortable and if your parents will allow it…"

"Ms. Chesterfield, I…"

"I will call your parents and we will make sure you have a place to stay until this is resolved."

"Can I think about it?"

"Of course. But let me know by the end of the day," Ms. Chesterfield said, and then she got up. "Regardless of your decision, I will still talk with your parents. You need to find somewhere to stay."

"Just… not with them. Not for now, at least."

Ms. Chesterfield nodded her head and then flashed Gia a warm smile, "I know it's hard, Gia, but I promise, it will get better. A lot of people are looking out for you."

"Apparently, there are Power Rangers everywhere I go. I've probably run into some without knowing it."

Ms. Chesterfield chuckled, and turned to walk to the office, but before she did, she looked back at Gia.

"Can I just add one more thing?"

"What?"

"I haven't gotten the opportunity to speak to your parents much, but I've seen you and Emma. I understand why this hurts, but it is not worth losing a friend."

"Ms. Chesterfield…"

"Not too long ago, that girl stood between you and a bullet. She protected you from her own father. How many people can say their friends will do that?"

Gia shrugged her shoulders and then hugged her knees to her chest, "I need to think."

"Take your time."


	144. Trust Each Other

Gia was home, but not to stay. After thinking about it, talking it over with Ms. Chesterfield, and then talking with her parents, it was decided Gia would stay with Ms. Chesterfield until she felt comfortable going back home. It wasn't ideal, and Gia knew it would likely cause some trouble at school with the students and the teachers if they found out, but it was for the best. She felt betrayed by her parents and Emma, and time away certainly wouldn't hurt.

But it didn't promise to help. Emma knew that as she watched Gia pack from the door.

"Gia, I am sorry," she insisted. "Your parents found out. I didn't…"

"You knew and you didn't tell me," Gia shook her head. "I trusted you, Emma!"

"It's not like this is a real violation of trust. It's not like anything happened…"

"And what if something had happened?" Gia asked. "What if Vrak or the mutants found out they knew and they did something. What would you have said or done then?"

"Rescued them. Of course, Gia, I'd…"

"And if they'd gotten hurt? That time at dad's work, when he stepped out of the building…"

"They knew then," Emma nodded her head, "But I didn't. I swear, I was just as confused as you."

"This hurts, Emma. I thought we told each other everything. I thought you had my back."

"I do, Gia!"

"Then why are you helping my parents keep secrets from me? Why couldn't I know? What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing! A secret is just better kept the less people…"

"Bullshit!" Gia shouted. She grabbed a picture frame from beside her bed and tossed it across the room. Emma jumped away from the door and let out a little scream. She turned to Gia with tears in her eyes.

"I didn't want to hurt you, Gia."

"Just keep me in the dark. Treat me like a fool. Let me lie to my parents, even though you knew I hated it. Let me hide another life from the people who want to help me most…"

"When you put it like that…"

"That's what you did!" Gia tossed another picture frame. Emma was beginning to regret taking so many pictures.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think, Gia. Your parents found out, then I overheard them talking and… I was put in a tough position and I made the wrong choice. I'm so sorry."

"I have my morpher with me," Gia said. "Call for something Ranger related. I'll be there. Anything else… don't bother."

"Please don't do this, Gia. I'll do anything to make it better."

"Maybe later," Gia whispered as she shook her head, "It still hurts too much."

"Maybe later?" Emma looked to Gia hopefully. Gia shrugged her shoulders.

"We'll see. Just space. I can't stay here."

"Okay…" Emma nodded sadly and moved out of the way of the door so Gia could leave. She kept her eyes on the ground, too ashamed to watch Gia leave. She was taken by surprise when her best friend hugged her, but wasted no time returning the gesture and squeezing tightly.

"You're the most important person in my life right now," she whispered in Gia's ear. "I'd never intentionally hurt you."

"Mhm," Gia nodded and then let go. Emma heard her walk off down the stairs. She leaned against the wall and slipped down until she was seated on the floor.

Then she heard the screaming match between Gia and her parents. Emma hoped she wasn't biased, but she could have sworn it was much, much worse than her exchange with Gia. And though she didn't want to see anything come between Gia and her parents, she did like knowing that Gia was being easier on her. It gave her a little more hope that things could work out between them. She'd hate to lose Gia over a secret that wasn't even really hers to begin with.

Then the front door slammed shut and the house fell silent except for Mrs. Moran's weeping. Emma gulped and ran into her bedroom to be alone.

It was a feeling she was worried she was going to have to get used to. Until Gia forgave her family and came home, Emma couldn't see things getting any better.

-Megaforce-

"Gia's moving in with Ms. Chesterfield?" Noah asked as he and Jake stood on the soccer field at the park. Jake was playing around mindlessly with a ball while Noah watched him.

"Yep."

"Isn't that a little weird?"

"Gia needs a place to stay," Jake said. "Dad and I would let her stay, but we don't even have our own place. We couldn't take her in for more than a couple nights."

"So, this thing is pretty bad then," Noah had a look around the park and sighed, "I don't know what I'd do if I found out my parents knew. I guess it would be a weight off my shoulders, but…"

"Do you really want them involved?" Jake asked. "And then you'd have to deal with them worrying all the time, and wondering if they're safe. Vrak kidnapped a baby. I'm sure he'd have no problem going after our parents. Besides, I don't think that's what's really bothering Gia."

"Definitely not," Noah shook his head and then he turned to Jake, "You know that rabbit mutant with the freaky carrots."

"Yeah."

"Gia was hit."

"I know."

"The carrot did affect her, but it didn't have to," Noah said. "Jake your stress levels when you were living out your biggest fear matched Gia's after the spell had been broken."

"Is that bad?"

"What do you think?"

Jake nodded, "What can we do to help?"

"Gosei says nothing."

"What does he know? He's been no real help to us so far."

"But I think he's right. Jake, you can't make people trust you. You can't make someone not scared. Gia's got to do this by herself."

Jake put his foot on the ball and shook his head. "Noah…"

"I'm not saying we can't help. Of course we're going to help. Of course we're going to do all we can, but this is Gia's fight. We can't win it for her."

"I just wish she had more people in her corner, you know."

"She's got a lot of people looking out for her."

The boys turned around to see Dr. Oliver walking on to the field. Jake picked up his ball. Noah touched the strap on his laptop bag. Dr. Oliver had a look around the field for a quick moment before he focused on the boys.

"I'm just checking up on you. Seeing if that talk we had in second period sunk in."

Jake nodded his head slowly. Though he was honest about the fact that he didn't want to be near Emma unless it was Ranger business, they had figured some things out. Jake knew Emma did care for Gia, and hadn't intended on hurting her, but she had handled everything poorly. Jake needed his space to keep cool.

Emma had gotten the opportunity to share her side of the story with Jake. She told him how she hadn't breathed a word to Gia's parents, and had overheard them talking about the Rangers after they had already known for a while. They had promised each other, for everyone's sake including Gia's, that the secret needed to remain a secret. No one had been malicious, they had just been wrong. Everyone had Gia's best interest at heart.

"Being a Ranger is tough business," Dr. Oliver said as he looked at the boys, "Believe me, it sucks you in and pushes you far beyond your limits. You have the weight of the world on your shoulders and absolutely no gratitude from the people whose lives you saved. There are only a handful of people on Earth who will ever understand what you're going through, and you cannot afford to lose a single one."

"Dr. Oliver, you said you were our age when you were a Ranger," Noah asked. "How did you do it?"

"It was hard, like I said. But my teammates helped me through it. We had to stick together, no matter what."

"Yeah, but you don't know Gia," Jake shook his head. "She's having a really…"

"You stick together," Dr. Oliver repeated firmly, "No matter what."

"But…"

"Jake, I think he's right too," Noah grabbed Jake's arm. "You're mad at Emma, we get it, but this isn't your fight."

"Noah, Gia came to me in the middle of the night in tears…"

"But what is this going to do?" Noah asked. "I know you care about Gia. You care about her a lot. But staying mad at Emma when she hasn't hurt you…"

"Noah, I…"

"Did you mean it, in second period," Noah looked up at Jake, "You told Emma that you understood. You told her it was okay. You told her you forgave her."

"I did mean it. Well, I'm still a little mad but…"

"Mad over what? She didn't do anything to you," Noah shook his head. "Jake, Emma made a mistake, but she's not the bad guy. Are you really going to stay mad at her, and encourage Gia to stay mad at her, when you know it's not going to do anything to help?"

"I…"

"Emma's not the bad guy. She made a mistake, she hurt Gia, and it looks like she's beating herself up over it already. And I've already told you, Gia is scared. I'm surprised she's still standing. She's scared and she probably feels betrayed, and if you're the only person she feels she can trust completely, and you're angry with Emma, what's going to happen to Gia?"

Noah put his hand on Jake's shoulder, "Do you think Emma's ever going to do anything like this to Gia again."

"Well, no, but…"

"Then why are you angry? Gosei is right, this is Gia's battle. She needs to make her own decisions. If she chooses to put her faith in Emma again, we don't interfere."

"What if she decides to put her faith in someone more like Cliff?"

"Then we step in, but… there's nothing we can do."

"I still need my space from Emma," Jake said. "I just… I can't believe she'd do that."

Dr. Oliver put a hand on the boys' shoulders, "I'll be around the school and around town," he reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a cell phone, "If you ever need help, or advice, or just a chat, call me on that. I'd have loved to have a former Ranger to look up to back in my days. Well, former Rangers."

"Rangers? Plural?" Jake asked. Dr. Oliver nodded his head.

"I've got a lot of friends. There's a whole Ranger family out there and we look out for each other, no matter what. I'm sure you've run into them without knowing it."

"You're sure?"

Dr. Oliver gave Jake a little wink, "Like I said. We're everywhere and we look out for each other. This war is yours, but you're not alone. Make me proud, Rangers."

"We'll do our best," Noah promised and he had a little smile on his face. Jake saw it and rolled his eyes.

"Another geeky fan-boy moment?"

"He says he was a former Ranger. C'mon, Jake, that's pretty cool. And you've got to admit, it's going to be pretty handy having a former Ranger around the school. Maybe we'll get less detention and less homework."

"Aren't you the guy always asking for more homework?"

"Extra credit," Noah corrected Jake.

"Now you want less? Dude, make up your mind."

"Jake, I just think this will be cool…"

"Less homework? Who are you and what have you done to Noah?"

"I… oh, never mind. Just go back to kicking the ball around."


	145. Troy Talks To Emma

Gia set her backpack down on the bed and had a look around. Ms. Chesterfield had a spare bedroom, so Gia would have privacy, and she had brought some things from home to make herself comfortable, but this room did not feel like her room. It felt bare.

"I'm hoping you won't stay long," Ms. Chesterfield said as she brought up a snack for Gia, "but you are welcome to stay as long as you need."

"Thanks," Gia whispered. She opened her bag and started to unpack.

"So, what do you do for fun?"

"I don't know," Gia shrugged her shoulders. Ms. Chesterfield tilted her head slightly.

"You don't know? How do you pass the time at home? What do you do?"

"I don't know," Gia answered again. "Nothing."

"I see," Ms. Chesterfield said, "Well, I'm taking an art class and was just about to head out. If you've got nothing to do, you're more than welcome to join me."

"You're taking an art class?"

"Teachers do have lives outside of the school," Ms. Chesterfield nodded her head. "The art class is open to anyone. Come in for the day and see if you like it."

"I don't know."

"Or, you could stay in your vice-principal's empty house all alone…"

"Art class sounds good," Gia said and left her bag on the bed as she followed Ms. Chesterfield out to the car.

-Megaforce-

"No Gia?" Ernie asked when he saw Emma walking into his shop by herself. She came up to the bar and took a seat. Ernie got started on her usual.

"We had a fight."

"Nothing big, I hope."

"It's pretty big," Emma said, "And unfortunately, it's all my fault."

Troy came into the Brainfreeze at that moment. He saw Emma sitting at the bar by herself and joined her. Ernie brought over Emma's smoothie and then got started on Troy's.

Troy put his hand on Emma's back, "Gia's moved out, I hear."

"Yep. Ms. Chesterfield's letting her stay at her place. You know it's bad when a student would rather live with her vice-principal over her parents."

"Have you tried talking to her?"

"For a bit," Emma took a sip of her smoothie, "While she was packing, we kind of talked. I really hurt her, Troy."

"It's not like you meant to do it."

"I kept a secret from her. It's not like it was an accident, either. I knew what was going on. I knew how much she trusted me. I should have said something."

"To be fair, I don't think anyone really knows what's going on with Gia," Troy thanked Ernie as he got his smoothie and turned back to Emma with a sympathetic look, "She's been through a lot. I think she's still hurting from that."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious. That's no help. You're just making me feel worse."

"You don't have to feel worse."

"Troy, I hurt her. _I _hurt her. I'm the last person on the planet she expected this from. I should have just…"

"Don't focus on what you should have done," Troy said. "Emma, you can't change what happened, and you're not going to fix it by focusing on what you should have done, or what you could have done differently. What are you going to do now? How are you going to make this up to Gia?"

"I don't think I can."

"You're her best friend. I've never seen anyone as close as the two of you before. Don't you remember when that bee turned you two against each other? You hated the other's guts, and you were still looking out for the other. That's something."

"That was a long time ago."

"Friendship grows. Either you need to try and work this out with Gia, or you're calling it quits. You know who she is; you know what she's like. She's been hurt pretty badly. I doubt she's going to be the one crawling back to you. Do you want her back?"

"Troy…"

"Do you want her back?"

"More than anything."

"So then why are you sitting here?"

Emma nodded her head. She put some money on the counter for Ernie and thanked Troy for the talk. She hurried out of the Brainfreeze and Troy looked to Ernie. He saw a smile on the older man's face.

"That was good, kid."


	146. Need To Fight

Gia felt out of place at Ms. Chesterfield's art class. It was certainly a class catered to an older group of people, leaving Gia to be the youngest by about a decade or two, and many of the others had a passion for art. They took the lesson the teacher had given them for the day and were making magnificence pieces of work.

Gia stared at her blank canvas and frowned. Art was not her thing.

"You're never wrong in art," Ms. Chesterfield whispered. "Pick up a brush, choose some paint, and do whatever you feel."

Gia did that. She held her paint brush in her hand and dipped it gently in paint. She bit her lip and put the first stroke on her canvas. She had no idea what would come of it, but there was still forty minutes left in class. At the very least, this would pass the time.

-Megaforce-

"Vanessa?" Emma called as she walked into the house. "Joe?"

She had come home to talk to the Morans about trying to patch things up with Gia. She knew it would be a long way, but Troy was right, they needed to do something. At the very least, they needed to show Gia they hadn't intended on hurting her.

"Upstairs."

Emma climbed the stairs and looked down the hall. Vanessa was in Gia's room, sitting on her bed and hugging her pillow. Emma walked in and had a look around.

"Gia took a lot of stuff with her, huh?"

"It's not long until college," Mrs. Moran whispered. "I've let her down. I'm no mother. She'd rather live with her teacher than with me."

Emma took a seat beside Mrs. Moran and she took her hand, "You're a good mother."

"A good mother? It took my daughter two years to tell me about Cliff. It took me two years to realize she's been falling apart."

"She hid that from you…"

"I'm her mother!" Mrs. Moran hugged the pillow tighter. "I should know these things. My daughter should feel safe and loved when she's with me. I've done nothing but…"

"Vanessa, don't say this! You're an amazing mother! Gia didn't hide Cliff because… well she hid him because she was scared of disappointing you; of letting you and Joe down."

"I don't know what to do anymore, Emma," Mrs. Moran turned to the pink Ranger and sighed. "This secret… this Ranger stuff… it's stupid."

"Tell me about it," Emma muttered. She turned to Mrs. Moran and smiled, "But Gia needs us right now."

"But she…"

"Are you really going to tell me you're going to give up on your daughter?" Emma looked at Mrs. Moran and shook her head. "Are you telling me you're going to let your daughter believe she can't trust you?"

Mrs. Moran shook her head, "I don't want that."

"We did something wrong," Emma said. "We should have been honest with Gia. We know how much she needs it. So we've got to make things right. We need to show her we're not going to hurt her."

"How?" Mrs. Moran asked. "What can we possibly do? Gia doesn't want us anywhere near her. She's made that very clear."

"We've got to find something, though," Emma muttered and had a look around the room. There had to be a way.

Suddenly, the two heard a phone buzz. Mrs. Moran knew it was hers and reached into her pocket. She pulled it out and saw a message from Joe.

"_Walked by the newsstand and saw this…"_

Her phone buzzed again with another message. This time it was a picture. Mrs. Moran gasped and turned her phone to show Emma. The pink Ranger had a look at the picture and then jumped up from the bed.

"Emma!" Mrs. Moran cried and raced out of the hallway only to see Emma already running down the stairs and to the front door.

"I'm not making this mistake again."

-Megaforce-

"What do you mean, that's art?" Gia turned her head to the side, thinking maybe a different angle would help her see was Ms. Chesterfield could see. "It looks like a bunch of lines to me."

"I think it's wonderful," Ms. Chesterfield said, and Gia was certain she was being sincere. The car stopped in the driveway. Ms. Chesterfield had another look, "We should frame that."

"You're kidding. I've seen better on kindergarten walls."

"It speaks to me."

"You're seriously crazy," Gia said. She got out of the car and followed Ms. Chesterfield to the house. She looked at her picture again. "How you been to a doctor lately? Should I not go into the basement?"

"The basement is fine," Ms. Chesterfield took the painting from Gia and walked inside. "I'm going to get started on dinner. Any requests?"

"No," Gia shook her head. Ms. Chesterfield headed for the kitchen, but Gia stayed on the patio. She sat on the swinging bench and looked out at the street. She smiled when she saw Jake and Noah walking up the driveway.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. They took a seat on either side of her.

"Seeing how you're doing," Jake said. Then he looked over his shoulder and peeked through the window, "Ms. Chesterfield lives here?"

"Freaky, huh," Gia chuckled and nodded. "It's a nice place, though."

"Are you settled in?" Noah asked.

Gia shook her head, "After school we went to an art class. Did you know Ms. Chesterfield paints?"

"She does?"

"She's pretty good, too. Though she insists I'm the next Picasso."

"She's probably trying to be nice," Noah pointed out. Gia shook her head.

"No. She means it. She's talking about getting my work framed."

"So, it is good?" Jake asked.

"I drew a bunch of lines on a canvas. What do you think?"

Jake and Noah chuckled for a moment before all three of them fell silent. Then Noah turned to Gia and sighed.

"How long are you planning on staying?"

"I don't know."

"Emma was miserable all day in school today."

"I know."

"It looks like she feels really poorly about what happened."

"I know."

"It's okay to be okay, you know," Noah looked up at Gia and he put his hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to be scared or hurt all the time."

"I can't help it, Noah. We talked about this…"

"And nothing's going to change if you don't try to change it!" Noah let his fist fall on the bench as he glared at Gia. "I get you're scared, but you have to fight it. Emma's your best friend. Your parents care for you a lot! This was a mistake, that's…"

"Gia!" Emma jumped the curb with her bike before falling from it and leaving it in the grass. As she raced up Mrs. Chesterfield's yard, she grabbed her bag from her back and rummaged through it. She dropped to her knees, looking for what she needed.

"Emma, what are you doing here?" Gia asked. "I said I needed space."

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important," Emma said. She found want she wanted and pulled out a newspaper. She handed it to Gia, "You're in trouble."

"I'm…" Gia unfolded the paper and looked at the headline. Jake and Noah looked over her shoulder. Suddenly, Jake started to pull Gia inside.

Noah turned to Emma. His jaw was dropped, "Are you…?"

"Gia's dad went for a walk to clear his head," Emma said. "He walked by the newsstand and saw this. He told Vanessa and I was there and… She should know, right?"

"She's got to be freaking out," Noah said. Emma grabbed her head in her hands. Noah pulled her up to her feet.

"You should get inside too. If he sees you he'll know Gia's close."


	147. Over With

Jake sat on Ms. Chesterfield's couch, holding Gia in his arms as she sobbed. She had tried to stay strong and she had tried to hold it all inside like it didn't bother her, but she couldn't. Jake took her into his arms, he held her warmly, and he kept her safe.

Noah was on his laptop, looking into the news, hoping he would find something more than just a blurb in the local newspaper.

Emma was pacing back and forth, unsure of what to do. She was positive Gia was still angry with her, but she needed to stay. She needed to help.

"There's been a break in," Noah announced, looking up from his laptop, "Yesterday there was a strange figure caught sneaking into the prison. He took out a few guards and seemed to search the place."

"So it's an outside job?" Jake asked. "He got help from a friend of his, or…"

"There are no actual witnesses, Jake," Noah shook his head. "His cell is empty, that's how we know he's gone. Everyone that could have stopped him has been killed."

"What?" Emma asked and she walked over to Noah's side. She looked over his shoulder and then shook her head, "Cliff… he couldn't have done that."

"Fifteen guards are dead. Some of the inmates as well. The security footage shows us what happened. Every single person who could tell us who helped Cliff escape is dead."

"Except Cliff?" Jake asked. "Or, please tell me he's dead too."

Noah scrolled down on the article on his laptop and then he shook his head, "Apparently, Cliff escaped with the suspect. If he is dead, we're going to have to wait to find a body."

"You're telling me two guys took out fifteen guards and a few inmates?" Emma asked Noah as though he was the one making up the story on the spot. Noah shrugged his shoulders.

"That's what the reports say so far."

Ms. Chesterfield came into the living room with some snacks. When she saw her front door had been left unlocked she went to lock it.

"There will be extra security around the school tomorrow," Ms. Chesterfield said. "I need to go in, Gia, so you'll be coming with me. I've also got the police going to check up on your parents and they'll be patrolling your neighbourhood. If Cliff tries to get anywhere near you, he'll be arrested."

This didn't comfort Gia as she pulled in closer to Jake and trembled in fear.

Emma went to the couch and knelt by her friend, "Gia, I know you're mad at me right now and you need space but I can't leave you like this."

Just then there was a knock at the door. Ms. Chesterfield turned around and peeked through the window. It wasn't possible Cliff knew Gia was staying here, but she couldn't be too careful.

Fortunately, the people at her door were Gia's parents. Ms. Chesterfield opened the door and let them inside.

"We need to talk to Gia…"

"I told her," Emma got up and then looked over her shoulder at Gia, "She's taking it… better than I thought she would."

"Perhaps it's best if we talk," Ms. Chesterfield gestured to the kitchen and had the Morans follow her into that room while she left the Rangers to comfort Gia. She walked to her kettle and put some water in to make tea.

"The timing couldn't be any worse," Mr. Moran sat at the kitchen table and put his head in his hands.

"If it helps, Gia can continue to stay with me," Ms. Chesterfield said. "It might be for the best. Cliff will have a harder time finding her here than anywhere else. I'll drive her to school every morning, and drive her home in the afternoons. She will not go anywhere without me."

Mr. and Mrs. Moran looked to each other. At this time, they wanted their daughter home so they could know she was safe. They wanted to look out for her, to care for her, and to protect her. But Ms. Chesterfield's offer did make sense. Gia was still angry with them and needed now, more than ever, to be somewhere she felt safe. If that meant staying with Ms. Chesterfield, her parents were all for it.

"It would mean the world to us," Mrs. Moran said. "I think the odds are good Cliff's going to come looking for her. He wasn't pleased when she pressed charges."

"There were a few threats in court," Mr. Moran agreed. "If Cliff's as stupid as I think he is, he's going to try and follow through."

"Try and fail. Nothing's going to happen to that poor girl," Ms. Chesterfield shook her head.

"He's made threats against Emma too," Mr. Moran added. "Could you keep an eye on her at school as well?"

"Nothing's going to happen," Ms. Chesterfield promised. She gave the Morans a warm smile as she offered them tea and then sat down to talk some more.

Over in the living room, Emma was pacing back and forth and looking to Gia nervously.

"Gia, I…"

Gia shook her head and hid her face in Jake's chest. He looked up at Emma and sighed. Then he turned back to Gia and grabbed her arms.

"I think you should forgive Emma."

Gia nodded her head. She got up from the couch and walked over to Emma. She pulled her in tightly for a hug.

"It hurt because I trust you. Trust – present tense."

"You can still be mad, Gia, I just… I can't leave. Believe it or not, Cliff scares me just as much as he does you. I can't lose someone else, especially not you. That was my nightmare, Gia."

"I heard you telling my parents," she said. She gave her best friend a loving squeeze, "Thank you for never giving up on me."

"Gia, why does that sound like a…"

"I just want to get this over with," Gia pulled away and instantly ran for the door. She unlocked it and ran from the house. She saw Emma's bike on the lawn and decided to take it. She snatched it up, jumped on, and pedalled off down the street.

"I'll go after her on foot," Jake said as he bolted out the door after Gia. Emma shook her head. Jake was the fastest of all the Rangers, but even he couldn't catch up to Gia on the bike.

"I've got a better idea," Noah whispered to Emma as he pulled out his morpher. She nodded and did the same. Before they started to run, Emma grabbed his shoulder.

"Do whatever you have to to stop her," she said. "I don't care how much she screams. Once this is over with, she'll thank you."

"Anything to keep her and Cliff apart," Noah nodded in agreement.


	148. The Idiot

Gia biked off the main roads and down a dark street. She knew that if she was going to find Cliff, she would have to look in places no one would think to search for him, and places where no one would see him. She remembered a spot he had taken her. It was the spot she would always remember as the first night he turned.

She dumped the bike a little ways off. Jake had tried going after her on foot and though he hadn't been fast enough, she knew he wouldn't give up until he found her. She was glad to finally have someone like that in her life. It was just a shame it wouldn't last.

She walked through a trail of overgrown weeds. Emma would never come out here because even though the land was untouched, it wasn't beautiful like some of the other clearings, and the animals weren't as photogenic as the ones she could find in the woods.

As she crossed the grassy trail, she reached a ledge. She turned around and climbed down slowly, careful not to miss a step. It wasn't too far to fall, but it wasn't the safest landing if she did.

"I guess you saved us both some time," someone grabbed her around the waist and lifted her the rest of the way down. He set her on her feet and wrapped his arms around her tightly. Gia already felt sick to her stomach.

"I know you're coming after me," Gia nodded her head. "Let's just skip the manhunt and get this over with. I don't want you hurting my friends and family."

"Maybe there is a brain in there after all," Cliff chuckled. He spun her around and grabbed her face in his hands. "You have no idea how much I've missed you."

Gia put her hands on his chest and pushed him away, "I said, let's get this over with. You'll get what you want and then you'll leave me alone, you'll leave my family alone, you'll leave everyone alone."

"Gia," Cliff grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back in, "Do you have _any _idea what this little stunt cost me? I lost my friends, my family, my pride. You owe me."

"No I…"

"You're making me do this, Gia. I just wish it didn't have to end this way."

He kept one arm wrapped tightly around her waist while the other reached around to his back pocket. He pulled out a rag, and before Gia could do anything more, he pressed it against her mouth and nose.

-Megaforce-

Jake followed his morpher to a strange part of town. It looked like the woods, but darker. Something about this place didn't feel right.

So he knew he was on the right path. He saw the tracks from Emma's bike, and followed them until he found the bike itself, but no Gia; just the bike and her backpack. Jake picked it up and sighed.

"Who's the idiot now, Moran," he muttered to himself before he heard something. He turned around and saw Troy, Noah, and Emma in their Ranger uniforms.

"The more the merrier, right?" Noah asked as he pointed to Troy. Jake nodded his head and then he held up Gia's bag.

"Smartest idiot I've ever met," he said. Emma grabbed the bag and looked through it. Then she shook her head.

"I'm going to kill her when we find her."

"That's the spirit?" Troy frowned. He put a hand on Emma's shoulder, "Look, if her bag's here then that means she must be close. Let's split up and search the area."

"Split up?" Noah turned to his leader and shook his head, "Someone doesn't watch enough TV. Cliff and some guy escaped prison and killed about twenty people – none of which were probably easy kills, and fifteen of them were armed just like we are."

"Alright, teams of two. But we'll have to cover a lot of ground quickly, "Troy said. "Jake and Noah, stick together. Emma, you'll come with me. If you see anyone, grab them. Someone wandering these woods would either be Gia, or suspicious."

"And no matter what, get her home," Emma looked at the boys, and even through the visors they could tell she wasn't kidding around. Jake didn't need to be told what to do. Making sure Gia was safe was his only concern.

"Call if you find anything," Troy said before touching Emma's shoulder and leading her one way. Jake and Noah went the other.

Emma kept her eyes peeled as she walked with Troy, but it was hard to see when her eyes were flooded with tears, and she couldn't wipe them away because she wouldn't power down.

"She's going to be okay," Troy assured her as he put his hand on her shoulder. "She's stronger than last time. Last time, she'd have run _away _from him."

"I think I prefer that," Emma whispered.

"If she's going to run to him, maybe she'll be strong enough to fight him off, too," Troy said. He grabbed Emma's arms and forced her to look at him, "You have to believe she's okay. She's counting on us. We can't give up before we've even started."

"Why would she run to him?" Emma asked. "She knows he's not exactly going to treat her to a romantic night. We all know what he wants. Maybe it's worse now that she's sent him to prison."

"Gia's been scared of him for a long time now. He's back, she knows what's going to happen and she's imagining the worst. To her, hiding might just be delaying the inevitable. What's worse, a bad beating? Or waiting for that bad beating, knowing the longer you wait, the worse it's going to be."

"Stop making sense, Troy. None of this makes any sense to me," Emma looked up at Troy and shook her head sadly, "Gia's always been there for me. Even through the Cliff stuff. I've always known, no matter what, she'd have my back. Troy, if I lose her, I don't know what I'm going to do."

"You're not going to find out," Troy promised and he gave Emma a tight hug, "Not today."

-Megaforce-

"Jake!… Jake!… Jake, slow down!"

"Slow down?" Jake spun around and shoved Noah, "Keep up or go home. Gia needs us."

"If you look too quickly, you're going to miss something," Noah said. "You have to look carefully. Gia ditched her bag because she doesn't want us to find her. She's going to try to cover her tracks."

"She's an idiot. A stupid idiot."

"We're going to find her," Noah promised, "And you know, if she knew you were calling her and idiot…"

"She is an idiot!" Jake screamed and kicked a small stone. "Nothing was going to happen to her if she had just stayed with us. We were all going to protect her. We were all going to look out for her."

"Jake…"

"She runs to him! Him! The guy who hurt her! I've done nothing but be a gentleman. I've done nothing but prove I care…"

"She's not choosing him over you," Noah shook his head. "She's only trying to get this to finally end, and it's going to. Tonight!"

"She's going to get herself killed!"

"Jake…"

"Guys like Cliff… they aren't good guys," Jake looked right at Noah, "He's going to get what he wants from her, and then he's going to shut her up, just like he did with those guards and the inmates."

"Him _and _his accomplice."

"What's your point?"

"Jake, Cliff would have to be a complete moron. He's already lengthened his prison sentence by escaping, and he's going to have it worse for hurting Gia, but only a total idiot would add murder to his already long list of… what?"

"Sometimes, I wonder if you really are the smart one," Jake grumbled.

Noah took in a deep breathe, "Okay, you have a point there. But we've got to look carefully, not quickly. When you rush…"

"You miss the important little details," Jake muttered and rolled his eyes. "Alright, let's do it your way. But if we're too late…"

"We won't be," Noah said and followed Jake as he continued on his path. Then he whispered to himself, "We better not be…"


	149. Cliff's Moment

It had been a long and horrible night with Cliff. People had promised her that he would never be able to hurt her again, but here she was, alone with him in a cave somewhere out in the woods.

And Cliff was angry. To say he wasn't happy with his prison sentence would be an understatement. Gia had already let him have his way with her. She had hoped that by giving him what he wanted, he would go away, but Cliff, as she should have expected, pushed it. She gave him a little and he wanted more. When Gia refused…

It was another smack to the face. Gia spun and fell to the ground as Cliff stood over her. With his large, heavy boot covering his foot, he kicked her in the ribs.

"Do you have any idea what prison's like?" he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up. He threw her into the wall of the cave and then punched her in the stomach.

"I'm sorry, Cliff…"

"Sorry? Do you think that's going to…?" Cliff laughed and shook his head. "Take it off."

"Cliff…"

"Take it off, bitch!" Cliff shouted as he kicked her. She fell to the ground. "You have no idea what I've been through, and it's your fault. You owe me this. You owe me everything! Do it!"

-Megaforce-

As the sun began to rise, Jake felt his heart grow heavy. He was weighed down by exhaustion, and leaned against the nearest tree. There was no sign of Gia anywhere.

He looked over, seeing red and pink approaching him and Noah. With a shake of their heads, he knew they had come up empty handed as well.

"I don't get it," he punched the truck with his fist, "We've looked everywhere!"

Emma sighed and had a look around. It had been dark for hours, and she hoped the light of day would reveal something, but it was all just plants and more plants. She had never been so sad to see so much of nature.

"We failed," she whispered and then looked over to see Troy with his arms cross. He was shaking his head.

"She's out there. We bring her home. No matter what," he said and looked right at Emma as he did. "Your words."

"Alive!"

"So if she's dead, we're just going to leave her?" Noah asked. "You'll let your best friend rot in these woods alone?"

"She's not here!" Emma screamed. She took Gia's bag, which she had been carrying on her back all night and tossed it. The bag went over an edge and dropped down.

"Now you've done it," Jake muttered and he went to retrieve the bag. Emma may not have wanted it, but he did. If Gia truly was gone, the contents of her bag were all he had left. She took her bag with her everywhere, and so the things inside it were a part of her. He needed to keep her close.

But when he got to the edge and looked down, he saw something he didn't expect.

-Megaforce-

Cliff pulled up his pants and sighed as he shook his head. He looked at Gia, who was nothing but a ball on the ground. He knew he had beaten her badly. He could see the cuts, the bruises, and the blood running down her body, but normally, no matter what he did to her, she could give him what he wanted. This time it was different. It was like she hadn't even been trying. Once he was dressed, he turned around and smacked her.

"That was a waste of my time," he growled as he walked over to the bag he had placed in a corner of the cave. He pulled out a roll of duct tape and walked over to Gia. He knew she was in no condition to fight back. If he had, he would have gotten more of what he wanted from her.

He pulled her arms behind her back and heard her whimper in pain. He scoffed, and laughed. Her pain was her own fault.

"I was a little hesitate about doing this," he told her, "but after that last performance…"

"Cliff, please. I'll drop the charges, I'll tell them it was all a lie. I'll…"

"Do nothing," Cliff put a strip of duct tape over her mouth. "Please, Gia. I know everything I need to know about you. You disappoint me. You're not worth my time anymore, and your word means nothing. As soon as you get out of here, you're going to find that little bitch what's his face? That slobbering idiot who has been following you around for years like some sick pathetic puppy. He'll lie to you; convince you I'm the bad guy."

Cliff grabbed Gia's face in his hand and forced her to look up at him, "I gave you everything. I made you who you are. Without me, you would have just been some lost, pathetic little slut. I took you under my wing, I loved you, and this is how you repay me? Prison! Do you know what happened to me in prison? You've humiliated me! I've got other inmates laughing at me, treating me like I'm their bitch! I gave you everything, and this is what you do to me?"

He let go of her face and walked back to his bag. Gia managed to prop herself up on a wall and looked over as he carried over a knife.

"I'm not going to be like all those others; those liars, those idiots! I'm going to let you die as the person you really are. Just some pathetic, piece of shit, good for nothing, bitch."

-Megaforce-

When Jake jumped down from the ledge, he didn't expect to find what he did. There, waiting for him and the others at the bottom, was Vrak. Jake summoned his Snake Axe and held it up menacingly.

"Bad timing, Vrak…"

"I thought you'd be here sooner," Vrak rolled his eyes and then bent over to pick up Gia's bag, "Does this belong to her?"

As the other Rangers jumped down to join their friend, Vrak opened Gia's bag and started to go through it. He pulled out a couple of books, a necklace, and then a stuffed tiger. He saw the Black Ranger tense up as he held the tiger in his grip. "Does this mean something? It's too bad she didn't have it."

"What did you do?" Jake growled. Noah stepped forward.

"How do you know Cliff?"

Vrak smirked as he tossed the tiger aside, "Blue is the smart one. Not smart enough to figure it all out, though."

"You broke him out of jail. You killed all those people."

"I've learned humans are big mouthed. You do anything, and the gossip spreads like…"

"Why did you go after Cliff?" Noah growled.

"The latest mutant revealed something very special," Vrak said. "When I noticed your yellow Ranger seemed fearless, I had to figure out why. I couldn't allow someone that strong to grow even more powerful. Before you destroyed the mutant, I asked him about his carrots. He showed me…"

"Gia's worst nightmare," Emma whispered and look to Jake, "She was affected."

"I couldn't pass this up," Vrak nodded his head and continued, "The seemingly fearless Ranger is terrified of a mere human. So I brought her fear to life. All it cost was a few humans, but you creatures are so disposable…"

"That's low, Vrak," Troy growled, "That's really low."

"It was fun for both of us. I got what I wanted, and this Cliff human got everything he wanted."

"You son of a bitch," Jake growled. He swung his axe and charged towards Vrak. He was filled with rage and had only one thought in his head. Vrak needed to pay.

Vrak stopped the swing of his axe and kicked Jake to the ground. He ripped the Snake Axe from the black Ranger's hand and held it over his head.

"So emotional. This is why the human species will never…"

Vrak was shot not once, but twice by a blast from the side. He stumbled, clutching his shoulder tightly and turned to see who had gotten him.

Robo-Knight stepped into view.

"You threaten the Rangers, you threaten the Earth," Robo-Knight announced as he prepared to fire another blast. "Prepare yourself for your doom, alien."

"You're just a bucket of bolts," Vrak drew his own weapon and turned to Robo-Knight, "I'll deal with you first, then those pesky humans!"

"Go, Rangers!" Robo-Knight called as he summoned his sword and held off Vrak, "I'll keep him busy."

"Jake, c'mon," Noah ran over, pulled Jake up from the ground, and then raced off after Troy and Emma into the woods. Jake glanced over his shoulder at Robo-Knight for a moment and gave off a little smile.

"Noah…"

"We can celebrate the milestone later. If Vrak's involved, Gia's in more trouble than we thought!"

Those words brought new life to Jake's legs, as he ran faster than ever before. He caught up to Troy and Emma by a large rock and had a look around.

"I know this place," Emma whispered. She turned to the boys, "Gia's been here before."

"She has?"

"She'll never forget this place," Emma nodded. "She says she sees it in her nightmares all the time. She's described it so many times, I know it too."

"Get to the point, Emma," Jake said impatiently. Emma suddenly took off running. The boys hurried after her.

Emma raced through the woods like she had been there a million times before. With ease she jumped, ducked, and raced around or through the trees, the bushes, the branches, and the roots. Right behind her, Jake was keeping up. He was getting a few smacks to the face from the branches Emma pushed out of her way, but nothing was slowing him down.

The Rangers eventually found a cave hidden along the side of a ravine. A cry told them they were in the right place. Jake, now that he knew where to go, raced past Emma and into the cave. He tackled the standing figure to the ground. When he saw the figure was his Cliff, he began to smash his fists into the monster's face. Cliff fought back with a punch of his own, but nothing could hurt Jake. He took the punch and let it fuel his rage. Noah and Troy joined him, but found they were mostly just working to keep Jake from doing something regrettable.

However, no one would regret rearranging Cliff's face.

Emma wanted to get involved with the fight against Cliff, but figured if he was here then Gia was close. She saw someone hunched over against the wall and ran to her.

"Gia!"

"You… you came?" Gia asked once Emma removed the duct tape from her mouth. Emma nodded her head.

"No, really? We all came. We were so worried about you!"

"Mom and dad…"

"They knew it was dangerous, I guess. As soon as you left, the rest of us just darted out after you. I'm so sorry, Gia."

Gia nodded her head and slumped forward into Emma's arms. The pink Ranger held her best friend as she reached around and pulled off the duct tape from around her wrists. When it was off, and Gia was free, Emma just held her.

Jake's fists were covered in blood when he decided he had wasted enough of his time on Cliff. He got up, leaving the older man in the dirt. Just for good measure, he spit on him.

"Little bitch packs a punch," Cliff propped himself up and held his face. He reached out for the knife he had dropped when Jake tackled him. He grabbed the hilt but couldn't lift it. He looked over to see why and saw Jake's geeky friend standing on top of it. He laughed, tried to get up, but Noah pushed him down.

"You're done."

"You're just wasting your time," Cliff shook his head and gestured over to Gia. He wiped away the blood that was dripping from his nose and his lip, "Just leave her with me. She's good for nothing…"

Cliff didn't get to finish his sentence as Jake morphed instantly and held his Snake Axe to his throat. Cliff looked down in horror.

"You're…. you're the…"

"Go near Gia again, and I'll consider it a badge of honour to have your blood stained on my axe," Jake growled. He grabbed Cliff and helped him up to his feet before pushing him out of the cave. Cliff stumbled and fell over, and then he couldn't get up properly to run. He had to crawl away from the cave as quickly as he could.

"We'll tell the cops where he is later," Jake said to the others as he powered down, "I don't think he's going to want to go far."

"Just leave him," Noah shook his head, "He's not going anywhere. Let him sweat this out…"

"The city's offering a huge reward for anyone who can give information leading to him," Jake said.

"You want money?" Troy asked. "After all this, you're just…"

"Guys, you know me better than that," Jake shook his head and then turned to Emma and Gia. He took off his sweater and draped it over Gia's shoulders as he checked up on her. She was out cold. He turned to Emma.

"We should get her home," he whispered.

"He hurt her pretty bad," Emma shook her head. "I'm scared to move her."

"I've got this," Jake promised and gently he took Gia into his arms. He started to leave the cave, passing by Cliff who was still trying to crawl away. At that very moment, Robo-Knight appeared. He seemed slightly damaged from his battle with Vrak, but all in all he looked okay. He held up a bag.

"This belongs to the yellow Ranger?"

Emma nodded her head and took the bag. She looked inside to see if everything was inside. When she saw the tiger, she took it out and placed it on Gia's stomach.

"Keep that close to her no matter what. Got it?"

"Of course," Jake nodded. "I'll take her to the…" Jake paused for a moment and took a deep breathe. Then he looked down at Gia. She needed help. "Hospital."

"I'll go with you," Noah said with a pat on Jake's shoulder. Jake let out a little sigh, relieved he would have some support.

"We can go talk to the Morans and Ms. Chesterfield," Troy said as he wrapped a comforting arm around Emma's shoulder, "I'm sure they're worried sick, and it would probably be best to stall them a little until Gia's cleaned up."

"Yeah," Emma whispered. Troy then looked over at Robo-Knight, who has spotted Cliff and pulled him up roughly by the hair. Cliff was terrified of the robot, and was begging for safety. Troy let go of Emma and stood next to Robo-Knight.

He looked at Cliff, "It's not that great when the shoe's on the other foot."

"Please," Cliff begged, "Please, I'll do anything. Take me back to the police, to prison, just let me go."

"Drop him, Robo-Knight," Troy commanded and Robo-Knight did as he was asked. Then he reached for his blaster. Troy put his hand on Robo-Knight's.

"Let him suffer."

"But my sensors indicate that he is…"

"He's earned this," Troy said. "Go back to base, Robo-Knight, and thanks for your help. It's appreciated."

"But what about the monster?"

"The cops will find him eventually."

Robo-Knight nodded his head. It wasn't a part of his programming to leave a threat breathing, but he felt it best to do as the Rangers told him. Cliff was human, unlike the other monsters he had faced, and just like the Rangers. Robo-Knight knew when others knew better than he.

He turned around and disappeared in a flash of light. Jake and Noah were already gone with Gia. Emma looked at Troy and then over to Cliff.

"Let's go," Troy called to her and held out his hand. Emma shook her head. She walked over to Cliff, who had managed to get up on his knees. He looked to her, begging for her mercy. Emma held out her hand. Troy frowned, "What are you doing?"

He watched in complete confusion as Emma gently helped Cliff to his feet. She let him lean on her and then quickly looked him over by brushing off the dirt from his clothes.

Then, in one shift motion, she brought her knee up between his legs. Cliff let out a cry as he grabbed himself and fell back into the dirt. He was sobbing as Emma spit on him and then turned and followed Troy back home.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," Troy said to her.

Cliff watched, now in agony, as Emma and her friend walked off. He rolled around in the dirt, just feeling sorry for himself until he heard footsteps approaching him. Fearing it was another one of Gia's friends, he tried to hide his face in the ground.

"Get up you pathetic fool," a strong, careless arm grabbed him roughly by the neck and pulled him up. Cliff saw it was Vrak, the monster who had helped him escape from prison. Before he could say anything his world faded to black. The last thing he felt was the life being sucked out of him.


	150. In His Arms

Jake never thought this would happen to him in a hospital. He had imagined many different horrible things happening to him and the people he loved in a hospital – usually those things ended with a slow, painful, disease ridden death – but never this.

He got Gia to the hospital and the doctors took her in right away. Everyone could see she had been beaten up pretty badly. She had come to on the way to the hospital, in Jake's arms, and hadn't been able to calm herself down since. Jake had set her on a gurney once he got to the hospital. He kept the tiger with her as the doctors took her away. He wasn't allowed to see go with her. It was doctors only.

After that, he had paced back and forth in the waiting room. He had Noah text Emma to keep her and Gia's parents up to date with everything that was happening. As he waited, he also got in contact with the police. He told them about Cliff, what he had done to Gia, and where they had left him. The promise of a great reward was very tempting. Cliff had been horrible to Gia for two years so something good needed to come from all of this.

When the doctors finally let him and Noah into Gia's room, he ran as fast as he could, with Noah fumbling behind him to keep up. The blue Ranger had promised Gia's family he would let them know as soon as Gia was ready to see them. They were worried Gia was still angry with them, and that showing up before she was ready would only make things worse.

Jake ran right into the room and saw Gia sobbing in the bed. She had her knees tucked into her chest and her face buried in the space between. When she heard the door opening, she looked up. Jake ran over and without a second thought, he took her in his arms.

She threw her arms around him and clung on desperately. She sobbed like Jake had never seen her sobbing before. This wasn't the Gia he knew or the Gia he had fallen in love with. Only a few months ago the world had seen her as a tough, fearless, popular, hot, smart, unattainable goddess. Now, she was a mess. She was a scared, hurt, beaten and broken down mess. Jake still found he couldn't turn away from her. All he wanted to do was make sure she was okay. He held her close to his chest and rocked her back and forth.

Noah sat in the corner of the room. He looked on with great concern as he texted Emma an update that Gia was awake. He could assume from her sobbing that her memory was intact (whether or not that was a good thing was yet to be discovered). It seemed Cliff's beaten looked worse than it was.

But there was more. Emma had said this once to him last time Cliff had sent Gia to the hospital. It wasn't the scars that the doctors could treat that really had her worried. It was the one the doctors couldn't see, and couldn't treat, that were the biggest problem. Noah knew what she meant, but he had never really understood it until now.

"It's all over now," Jake promised Gia as he rocked back and forth with her in his arms. She clung to him desperately, with the stuffed tiger wedged between them. Eventually, and it almost seemed miraculous, Gia started to calm. Her grip around Jake loosened slightly, but she never let him go. After a while, it was just a hug; just a comforting hug. Jake kissed the side of her face softly. "I'm sorry, Gia. I'm sorry he hurt you. I was too late."

Gia shook her head and buried it in his neck. She had never felt this way with a boy before. Around boys she always felt nervous and suspicious. She knew what they thought about. She knew they were all up to something. She had to keep her guard up. She had to be strong and tough, or else they would walk all over her. They would tear her apart, take what they wanted from her, and leave her in pieces.

But with Jake… she felt different. In his arms she felt safe. In his arms, the world was blocked out. Nothing bad could happen to her.

When Cliff touched her, his skin was like sandpaper. Even the softest caress would cause her pain. The lightest touch or the gentlest of kisses would feel like fire on her skin. The pain felt agonizing and it lasted for days, weeks, sometimes even months. Long after that, long after she thought it was gone it even had the power to come back.

But with Jake, there was no sandpaper. With Jake, there was no fire. His touch was soft and warm and secure. It was strong, but gentle just for her. He would keep her safe. He would treat her right. She knew, in his arms, everything would be okay.

Noah then cleared his throat. He knew the timing wasn't good, but it never would be. There was too early or too late. There was no in between. He held up his phone.

"Gia, your parents and Emma really want to see you. They're really worried."

Gia couldn't remember why she was mad at them. After what she had been through with Cliff, it didn't seem to matter anymore. She had already forgiven Emma, and even if she hadn't, the fact that she had come all the way out to find her and protect her from Cliff meant a lot to Gia.

As for her parents. They were her parents. Though there were some things they had to do as parents, like care for her, give her a home, make sure she had enough food on her plate, got a good education, they had always done more than that. They had always supported her. They loved her. They gave her their very best every day. Even when they didn't know what to do for her, they always tried. They were amazing parents. One lapse of judgement couldn't begin to unravel everything they had done for her before that. They were her parents. They loved her, and she needed them. She nodded her head in Jake's neck, and he looked to Noah.

"Get them here ASAP."

"One better," Noah smiled as he started to dial Emma's phone. It didn't ring for long. He quickly told Emma it was safe to come visit, and then he asked she put Mrs. Moran on the phone. Noah wasn't sure who Gia was closest to, but figured there was no harm letting Gia speak to her mother.

Then he walked to the bed and handed the phone to Jake. Jake put the phone to Gia's ear. She heard her mother's voice and started to sob again. Jake held her close. Noah sat beside her on the bed and put his hand on her back so she knew he was there too.

Gia's mother managed to top Noah's plan. She had Emma's cell phone on speaker. Everyone could talk to her, and everyone could comfort her as they piled into the car to drive over. Troy and Ms. Chesterfield were also coming along. They all wanted to see for themselves that Gia was okay.

In a record-breaking time, they made it up to the room. Noah moved away to give the Morans room with their daughter. Jake tried to leave, but Gia didn't want him to. For some reason, he gave her safety the others could never provide her with. She needed him.

Her parents and Emma were glad to let them stay. Mr. Moran even pulled Jake into the hug and he leaned in to comfort his daughter.

When Ms. Chesterfield came into the room, she brought a bouquet of flowers with her. Though she had gotten to know Gia a little better over the past few months, Gia was still a huge mystery. Unsure of what her favourite flavours were, Ms. Chesterfield brought a bouquet of assorted flowers. She set them on the table by the window, so Gia could see them.

For the most part, the room was silent. Everyone told Gia how much she had worried them, and how glad they were that she would be okay. They all promised her she would be okay. After that was the silence. Jake could only take it for so long before he had to do something about it. He kept one arm wrapped tightly around Gia and reached for the remote control with the other one. There had to be a soccer game on.

But when he turned it on, it was just the news. Cliff's name flashed across the screen, and Jake wanted to change the channel before Gia heard it, but Emma slapped the remote from his hands.

"Look," she said as the crawl continued to roll by. Then the news anchor started to cover the story.

"The search for fugitive Cliff Morris comes to a brutal end when a tip from a local teen leads police straight to Morris body. Police discovered Morris only moments ago and were shocked to find an alien standing over him. Morris died from injuries sustained in a fight. Police believe he was defending himself in an attack against the alien. Morris was charged with physical assault, sexual assault, twenty accounts of murder, and escaping from prison with the help of a still unidentified accomplice."

"I'm not sad to see this scumbag go," the co-news anchor said as she flipped through her pages. "However, his murder does raise questions about the aliens. This one specifically has been seen attacking the city, but he takes time out of his day to rid us of a dangerous and dirty criminal?"

"You know you're bad when even the evil monsters are disgusted by your actions," the first news anchor joked. Jake turned off the TV, before the whole thing turned into something to be laughed at. He looked to the rest of his teammates.

"Vrak killed him?"

"He must have," Troy nodded. He looked at his hands, "I'm not going to say we didn't do a number on him, but when we left, he was alive, and we didn't beat him so that he couldn't survive."

"I don't care," Emma said. "Cliff's one guy I'm never going to give a damn about. I've wanted him dead for a while. Then when we found out he sided with Vrak, he was no different than any other alien we faced."

"The important thing is he's gone," Mr. Moran assured the teens as he put his hand on his daughter's shoulder and gave her a comforting squeeze. "He's out of our lives for good. The healing can start."

Gia sniffed and pulled away just a bit from Jake. She wiped her nose with her arm and looked around the room at her friends and family. They all smiled at her. They were all trying to comfort her, to help her. They wanted to see her get better. They had always been there for her. All she had done was make their lives difficult. She had worried them, she had gotten angry with them. Though she never wanted to hurt them, she was sure she had said some hurtful things to all of him out of her own frustration. Cliff was gone, and she was glad for that, but that didn't mean everything was over. She was still so broken.

"I'm sorry, guys," she whispered. Jake pulled her back into his arms and he gave her a loving squeeze.

"Aside from worrying us, you have nothing to apologize for."

"No," Gia shook her head and pulled away again. "You've all done enough. You've all been so amazing. But look at me!"

"Gia…"

"I'm a mess," Gia cut off her mother. "You've all done so much I don't… I don't want to burden you anymore. I'll fix myself, I promise. You guys can all just… find someone better."

"Gia, there is no one better," her mother took her hand. Gia pulled away and fell into Jake's arms. He gave her a hug before he pushed her away. He grabbed her arms gently and looked at her.

"Gia…"

"Jake, I'm sorry."

"Gia…"

"I like you, I really do, but you don't deserve this. You're amazing and you deserve to be with someone just as amazing. I'll…"

"Gia, will you still go to Prom with me?"

"Jake! I'm a mess!"

"You're beautiful," Jake gently wiped away her tears. "I know it's a lot, I know it's going to take a lot of time. I know it's never going to be a perfect relationship, but you're the one I want. I've seen you at your worse and I'm still crazy for you, Gia."

Jake pulled her back into his arms and he hugged her warmly, "Will you still go to Prom with me?"

"Even looking like this?"

"Even looking like this. It would be an honour to be your date at Prom."

-Megaforce-

"You look beautiful," Mrs. Moran smiled at her daughter and wasn't sure she could be any happier as she looked her little girl in the eyes. It had been some time now since Cliff. In a sick, twisted way, Mrs. Moran had him to thank. Though it wasn't the ideal way of getting her daughter to start truly healing, letting things fall below rock bottom had worked out for the best. Nothing was perfect yet, and it would be a long time before things could ever feel normal again – if that was even possible – but they were better. The Morans finally felt like they had a happy and healthy family again.

Though it hadn't been without its trials. Gia had several crises in the weeks between her stay at the hospital and now. Given all she had been through, it had been expected. Her family stuck by her, no matter how challenging she got, no matter how hard she seemed to be falling. Eventually, they noticed that she wasn't falling, it was part of her recovery. Every time she seemed to have a moment of panic, she seemed to get stronger and feel better.

She did go back to school on the days leading up to Prom. It wasn't much, but it meant she was strong enough to face the other students. They had tried asking her questions, but her friends kept them all away. Gia didn't need to talk about what had happened with strangers. She had people who really did care for her, and who really wanted to help. They were the ones she needed in her life.

By the time Prom came around, the old Gia was starting to show. She had built up a few walls, but this time they weren't unreasonably high. She had learned to stand up for herself. She had found a new respect for herself that she hadn't had during the Cliff era – as Emma had called it.

Finally, the old Gia was making a comeback, and she was here to stay. Even Mrs. Moran could agree that no human being was ever perfect, but as she looked at her daughter right now, she couldn't see anything less than perfection. Gia was starting to feel happy with herself again, and that was all Mrs. Moran wanted for her daughter.

Mrs. Moran finished with Gia's makeup, covering up as much of the bruising and scarring as she could. It would still be some time before Gia's wounds were healed. Some would leave a permanent scar, but for tonight they weren't noticeable at all. Mrs. Moran looked down at Gia lovingly.

Gia pulled away, "Mom…"

"I am so proud of you."

Mrs. Moran kissed her daughter's forehead. Gia moved away and then looked at herself in the mirror, smiling just a little bit.

"Is it too much?"

"It's fine, sweetheart. Go show your father."

Gia nodded her head and walked out of the bathroom in search of her father. Mrs. Moran started to clean up and couldn't wipe the smile from her face. It was at that moment that Emma walked in.

"Can you help with the zipper?" she asked and turned around. Mrs. Moran nodded and closed up Emma's dress. Then she smiled.

"You look beautiful."

"Thank you," Emma whispered. Mrs. Moran looked over at her and sighed.

"Not the night you expected?"

"Troy and Noah are sweet," Emma shrugged her shoulders, "But I thought it would be Jordan, you know?"

"You're going to miss him for a long time," Mrs. Moran said, "But I'll be damned if you can't enjoy tonight. You only have one junior prom."

"Senior prom is the real big deal," Emma smirked, "Maybe I'll have found someone by then?"

"I want you happy. With or without a boy, you are amazing."

"But it would be nice," Emma looked up with a little smile. Mrs. Moran poked Emma in the side.

"You have two charming young men tonight. You can't do much better."

At that moment, the doorbell rang. Mrs. Moran's face lit up with excitement as she rushed to the door. Emma rolled her eyes.

"I know who is most excited," she walked out into the hallway and down the stairs. She saw Troy and Noah waiting at the door for her. They were dressed in their best suits.

"Don't you both look handsome," Mrs. Moran said as she pulled the boys inside. Emma reached the bottom of her stairs and then stopped. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Noah. He knew what she meant, and tucked his bag behind his back.

"I _always_ have my laptop with me."

"Even tonight?"

"What if I need it? Besides, where else am I going to hide my morpher?"

"Inside your jacket," Troy said and he opened his jacket to show his morpher. He had taken a piece of fabric and sewn himself a big enough pocket to hold his morpher. Then he turned to Emma, "You look beautiful."

"Oh, uh, yeah," Noah nodded his head and smiled. Dates were still new territory, even though the three of them were just friends.

"Thanks," Emma blushed. Then she looked over their shoulders, "Where's Jake?"

"On his way. He's got a big surprise for Gia."

"A big one?" Emma asked and frowned, "What did he do?"

"He wouldn't say," Noah shrugged his shoulders. "He just said he was going to be a little late."

"Jake's late?" Gia asked from the top of the stairs and everyone looked up. Noah took off his glasses to clean them off. Troy's jaw dropped. Emma chuckled as she pushed it back up.

"Staring is rude."

"Gia, that's a dress!" Noah said once his glasses were on.

"It is?" Gia pretended to be surprised as she looked down at her dress and gasped. Then she looked at the boys and rolled her eyes, "What did you think I was going to wear?"

"Uh… the usual?" Noah realized how dumb his answer sounded as he said it. He shook his head, "Uh, never mind…"

"You look beautiful, Gia," Troy said. Then he turned to Noah and gave him a look. Noah frowned.

"She's not my date," he was hit in the stomach and groaned, "You look good, Gia."

Emma crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at Vanessa.

"Yeah, real charmers."

"You're going to have a fun night," Mrs. Moran promised her. She handed Emma her clutch, "I found one big enough to hold your morpher. Do not lose it."

"Not letting it out of my sight," Emma promised. At that very moment, the doorbell rang. Mrs. Moran smiled brightly as she pushed her way past the boys and Emma to answer it. Emma looked up at Gia with a smile. Gia walked down the stairs and straightened out her dress.

"You're fine," Emma whispered to her. "How are you feeling?"

"Not as nervous as I thought I would be," Gia smiled. Emma smiled back and wrapped her arms tightly around her best friend.

Then the girls heard a cough. They pulled apart and Gia smiled as a bouquet of roses was presented to her.

"These were hard to find," Jake said, "but they aren't the reason I was late."

"They're beautiful, Jake," Gia took the flowers and then hugged Jake tightly. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a loving squeeze before he pushed her away.

"You know how I got a bit of money, recently," Jake asked and Gia nodded her head. Cliff's escape from prison had been a big deal, and a very large sum of money had been promised to whoever could give the police any information that would lead to Cliff's arrest. After he got Gia to the hospital safely, Jake had been the one to contact the police. He told them where Cliff had taken Gia, and gave specific directions to the bush in the woods. The police found Cliff already dead, but still gave the full reward to Jake.

"Yeah."

"I stopped by the women's shelter," Jake said. "I donated all of it in your name."

"All… all of it?"

"Yep. Every penny."

"Jake…"

"What else could I have done with it?" Jake asked her with a big smile. Gia rolled her eyes.

"A college fund? Money to help you and your father find a place?"

"My dad and I are fine," Jake shook his head, "And I plan on getting a scholarship, remember? I don't need money. And besides, helping people who aren't as unlucky or lucky as you is the only right thing I could have done with that. I didn't need it."

"Jake…" Gia wrapped her arms around him again and rested her head on his shoulder, "Thank you."

"Are you up for tonight?" he whispered to her. "If it's too much too soon, I'm fine with a living room Prom in…" he was cut off when something soft touched his lips. His eyes widened and he smiled when he saw it was Gia kissing him. He held her close.

When they broke away, Gia looked up at Jake with a smile. She didn't say anything as she took his hand. She gave the roses to her mother and walked out the door, leaning in closely to Jake.

_The End_

_Just for now. Just like with the Samurai Series, this will be divided into several different stories. So look out for the next installment (Prom Night) and let me know what you think!_


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